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Dual Credit Policy

Dual Credits:

PAHCOS students are permitted to take dual credit courses from approved post-secondary institutions. Details regarding how to make use of this opportunity will be made available if/when the Ministry of Education and/or FISA releases information. Students applying for dual credits are required to follow all PA policies regarding course completion, full loads, graduation credits, and any others that may apply. 

Policy statement
Statement

Students may earn credits toward graduation in a variety of ways. In addition to earning credits by successfully completing courses delivered by a B.C. public or independent school, students will be awarded credits through this policy.policy for dual credit courses. 

Rationale

Learning is a life-long activity. Students learn in a variety of ways, some of which take place outside of British Columbia or outside of the regular secondary school program. Schools will grant credit towards graduation for learning that has been assessed and matches or exceeds provincial, national or international standards.

Authority

Policy in full

Although students are entitled to receive credit, as set out below, the Ministry of Education assumes no liability, financial or otherwise, for students who enroll in courses or programs offered by other jurisdictions or institutions.

Since September 1997, all Boards of Education are required to have Equivalency and Challenge procedures in place. These procedures must comply with the Ministry’s Equivalency and Challenge policies, below.

Equivalency Policy (Documented Prior Learning)

This policy describes how secondaryHCOS schools awardawards credit to students who have successfully completed an equivalent Grade 10, 11 or 12 course from an educational jurisdiction or institution outside the B.C. school system.

The Ministry of Education may make determinations about equivalency that apply to all students. Such determinations will be listed in the Handbook of Procedures for the Graduation Program or online Course Registry.

With some exceptions for international students (see the International Student Graduation Credit Policy for further information), all students enrolled with a board of education are entitled to apply for an equivalency review of their documented prior learning.

SchoolsHCOS will award credit based on equivalency for Grades 10, 11 and 12 Ministry-developed courses (including courses with a Graduation Program Exam) and Board Authorized courses.

There is no limit to the number of credits students may be awarded through equivalency.

Boards of education must not charge students for equivalency reviews; however, students may be asked to provide translations if documents are not in English or French.

Procedures for Equivalency

Schools will award credit through equivalency following the procedures of the board of education.

For the purpose of determining equivalency, comparison of courses may be based on factors such as the following:

  • comparison of learning standards
  • comparison of general subject matter 
  • comparison of depth or breadth of coverage of subject matter 
  • comparison of assessment methods, instruments, and standards. 

To be deemed equivalent, sufficient content should have been covered to enable the student to be successful in further learning in the content area. For a Grade 11 or 12 course, there should be a match of approximately 80 percent or more of learning standards .

In order to receive credits through equivalency, students must provide the appropriate documentation as proof of successful completion of the course.

For reporting and transcript purposes, schools should assign a letter grade and percentage to all credits awarded through equivalency. If the student's documents show only a letter grade or level, schools may choose to assign a percentage, based on the mid-point of the matching British Columbia letter grade range. Schools may use "Transfer Standing" (TS) if it is not possible to determine a letter grade and a percentage from the documentation.

 

Credit from Post-Secondary Courses Policy

This policy describes how students earn credit towards graduation by earning credit for courses at specific Post Secondary Institutions. ItEquivalency iscredit alignedwill withbe theawarded earlier sectionsbased on EquivalencyHCOS Course Challenge and ExternalEquivalency Credentials.Policy.

Students are entitled to earn "dual credit" if they earn credit that leads to a post-secondary credential from a post-secondary institution which is a member of the British Columbia Transfer System or offered in French through Educacentre.

Post-secondary courses for which credit may be earned must be documented as follows:

 

Applicable post-secondary level courses count towards the required number of Grade 12 level credits needed to satisfy graduation requirements.

Boards must not charge students for reviews of transcripts.

Procedures for Earning Dual Credit

All post-secondary level courses will be reported using course codes listed in the online Course Registry.

For reporting and transcript purposes, schoolsHCOS mustwill assign all credits earned at a post-secondary institution a letter grade and percentage. Provided a course consists of the standard number of hours for most courses offered at that post-secondary institution, such courses will be awarded four credits, regardless of the number of credits indicated on the post-secondary institution's transcript. However, if the course at the post-secondary institution is offered in modules, credits awarded should be proportionate to 4 credits for the whole course.

Adult Basic Education (ABE) courses do not count for dual credit. For information on how to report these for credit toward graduation, see the online Course Registry.

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