One of our most common questions from school counselors and administrators when a student studies abroad for a semester or academic year is "How do I grant credit to the student for their coursework taken abroad?" We hope this article helps to answer that question for you.
All schools in the U.S. operate under the idea of "local control," therefore there is tremendous variance and flexibility among local schools to choose to accept a student's coursework abroad for credit toward graduation just like a school would for an incoming international student who will graduate from the local high school. We encourage you to be as flexible as possible, as these students have learned a tremendous amoung in another language and about culture, social issues, and the world simply through their life experience abroad.
Prior to studying abroad during the academic year, students have been encouraged to meet with their counselor to talk about their credit needs, but it is important to note that no student is guaranteed any specific courses while they are abroad, nor are they guaranteed an official transcript of the courses taken. Therefore, we recommend that students do the following while abroad:
- Keep a record of the courses taken and any materials from the course such a syllabus, course outline, or large assessments as those would help a U.S. school identify the overarching topics covered in the course abroad.
- Ask their hosting school abroad for an attendance record or transcript, if one exists in that country or school.
- Make note of how often the class meets each week/semester and how long each class lasted daily to show an amount of seat time in each course taken.
- Make sure to take their language proficiency assessment upon their return, if applicable.
As the school leader supporting the student upon their return, here are some helpful tips and guidance for you to determine the assignment of any credits for the students' courses abroad.
- Use your state's Seal of Bilateracy benchmarks for granting language credit based upon the student's language proficiency assessment score. Student can request their score report and certificate from AFS-USA via email.
- Evaluate the amount of time a student spent in a course along with the large topics covered and try to match that up with a course in the State's course catalog.
- If you have a policy that allows for students to demonstrate their proficiency in any subject area, you may give the student a final exam from any particular subject that you believe that they have covered while abroad and grant them credit when they pass that final exam.
- For grade equivalencies, consider visiting a website like Scholaro.com to see what the U.S. equivalent grade would be for one in the student's host country.
- Consider potential equivalencies of courses. For example, a social studies or history course taken in Spain covering European or Spanish history, can likely be granted a "world history" credit from the U.S.
In preparation for a student to go abroad, we hope you will consider this as a great opportunity rather than a burden for the school as the student will take away learning that goes far deeper and beyond that of any textbook as their lived experience abroad is remarkable. The decision is ultimately that of the local school, but if AFS-USA can assist in clarifying any details, please reach out to us at educators@afsusa.org.