Your Transcript & Graduation We really appreciate you helping us give the students a little more exposure to the information about their transcripts and educational planning. If a student asks a question that you are not sure how to answer, please have the student write down the question on the forms provided. Don’t feel that you should be able to answer every question. Any of these forms that have been filled out can be placed in Mrs. Nall’s box in the office. From there, they will be given to that student’s counselor who can then can meet with that student about any questions they have. The counselors have also started educational planning presentations for each grade level. If the students would rather wait to ask questions then, they can. Presentations for Sophomores will be on Monday January 25 and Thursday January 28. and for Freshmen (and a few Sophomore classes) on Tuesday, February 2, Friday February 5, and Wednesday February 10. Do all the pieces fit?

You should receive a transcript that looks something like this: When you see a black oval, write the answer to the question in your Life Class notebook on your next available page. You should have a transcript for each student in your Life Class. If not, the student will receive one during the educational planning presentation in the library. If they would like one before then, they can go by their zone/corral before or after school to request one.

Getting to know your transcript Your information End of Course Exams (EOC) Getting to know your transcript All classes, grades & credits you have received so far (including 1st semester) Total Number of Credits Earned 1. Do you see any errors on your transcript? If so, what needs to be fixed when you talk to your counselor? Students should check the information on their transcript. This is their official educational record. They should periodically check to make sure it is accurate. If a student sees errors today, have them note it on one of the Counselor Communication forms. If a student is new to the district, their transcript may be blank. That indicates that we have not yet gotten records from their previous school. The student can check back with their registrar or counselor to get an updated transcript. Class Rank, Class size, & Quartile

Lets look at each part: 2. Look at your transcript and list the EOCs you still need to pass before graduation? This student passed Algebra 1 and Biology in Spring 2015 End of Course Exams (EOC) Any EOCs you have taken and passed will have II and a date beside it. This does not include testing from last fall, we don’t have those results yet. Please be sure to emphasize that this does not have scores from the most recent retest. We don’t want the students to think this shows that they didn’t pass in December. Students may ask about only needing to pass 3 EOC exams instead of 5. The answer for them is NO, the state still requires that all 5 tests be passed for graduation. Senate Bill 149 gives some options for SENIORS who have met certain requirements and have gone through the process of being approved by a committee, but this is not something that students should count on. If students have questions about this, they can write it down on the Counselor Communication form. EOCs you must pass to graduate: Algebra 1 Biology US History English 1 English 2

you can recover credits that you have lost. Types of classes are grouped together Look at the center of your transcript Year class was taken (ex: 14/15) Credits received for course If there are M’s or N’s by your credit, you lost credit because of your attendance. Go to your Corral to check on hours you owe. 3. Final Average Name of class you took Semester 1 grade Semester 2 grade 1. Emphasize to the students that they can recover credits lost due to attendance (if it is for this year) by going to their corrals and talking to the attendance clerk about making up hours. We have many students who pass classes but don’t get credit because they don’t make up their hours. Then they have to either retake the class or do OdysseyWare. Remind students that most classes taken before 9th grade do not count, so they shouldn’t see classes like 8th grade PE on their transcript. If you have time, you might ask the kids the following questions: - how many credits this student lost because of poor attendance? (the answer is 4.0, this student would have gotten credit for all classes both semesters except Biology second semester because the average of the two semesters was not a passing grade) The answer to number 4 if they are having trouble is: Average grades for 1st & 2nd semester OdysseyWare Make up hours You can average 1st and 2nd semester for a passing grade and a full credit 4. List 3 ways you can recover credits that you have lost. You can do OdysseyWare for many classes that you failed. Check with your counselor. 2.

5. How many credits do you need this semester to move to the next grade level? Most students are scheduled in 7 credits per year (3.5 per semester) Credits and Grade Level 0 – 5.5 credits = Freshman 6.0 – 11.5 credits = Sophmore 12.0 – 17.5 credits = Junior 18+ AND plans to graduate = Senior Some students may notice that they now have enough credits to be moved to the next grade level. We do NOT reclassify students at semester. If a student started the year with 2.5 credits, that student will remain a freshman all year (even if they have 6.0 at the end of the semester). However, a student who is behind in credits can skip grade levels: For example, jump from being a freshman one year to a junior the next. Students who start the year with 18.0 credits or more, but are not taking Senior classes (ex: a student with credits earned in junior high, has extra dual credit classes, or has never failed a course, could easily have more than 18 credits at the beginning of their junior year). Only students in Senior level classes who are intending to graduate should be classified as a senior. If a student has a question about their number of credits or their classification, he/she can write it on a Counselor Communication form Total number of credits you have (including the fall semester)

Look at the bottom of your transcript Shows how you compare to others in your grade level 7. Does your Degree plan say “FHS Program Distinguished?” If not please let your counselor know. 6. Write down your class rank and/or GPA. Do you have any questions about this? Look at the bottom of your transcript Class Rank, Class size, & Quartile We will look at this more on another day Your GPA (Grade Point Average) determines your rank Your degree plan This is one area where students tend to have many questions. Here are some things that might help: GPA is based on the grade made in a class AND the weight of the course. AP, IB and core Dual Credit courses are on a 6.5 GPA scale Pre-AP, Pre-IB, non-core Dual Credit courses, and some upper level CTE courses are on a 6.0 GPA scale, general courses are on 5.0 scale If students want a higher GPA, they need to make better grades in the classes they are in, or possibly take classes that fall into one of the weighted credit categories. The course description guide (available on ECISD’s website) has a complete list of courses in each weighted credit category and a chart showing how each grade converts to a GPA. A counselor could also help them with this (fill out Counselor Communication form) The 4.0 GPA on the right side of this section is a GPA based on all classes counting the same and each being worth 4.0. Colleges, universities and many scholarships will ask for this GPA. The GPA we use in ECISD for ranking, etc is the weighted GPA on the left. (The 4.0 GPA is something they really don’t need to worry about until they are looking at college, etc.) The higher your grades, the higher your GPA is

8. Write down any letter codes on your transcript and what they mean. This is where the codes are found. This student has taken several classes in OdysseyWare The most common: M: lost credit because of absences (semester 1) N: lost credit because of absences (semester 2) J: Course taken before entering 9th grade Q: Pre-AP course P: AP Course K: Pre-IB course I: IB Course D: Dual Credit Z: Credit Recovery (OdysseyWare) 8. Write down any letter codes on your transcript and what they mean. If students don’t have any codes, you can have them write down “none”. Again, if students have questions about these codes, they can fill out a Counselor Communication form This explains all of the letter codes used on your transcript

Odessa High Counselors Spirit Zone Counselor (A-L): Mrs. Kyle in room 234 Courage Zone Counselor (M-Z): Mrs. Lujan in room 210 Corral 1 Counselor (A-E): Mrs. Nunez in room 145 Corral 2 Counselor (F-L): Ms. Bowland in room 113 Corral 3 Counselor (M-Ra): Mrs. Garcia in room 517 Corral 4 Counselor (Rb-Z): Mr. Fisher in room 617 Student Support Counselor: Ms. Padilla in room 151 System Support Counselor: Mr. Brower in room 151 Career and Tech Education (CTE) Counselor: Mrs. Nall in room 137 College Counselor: Mrs. Moreno in room 209 TPRS Counselor: Mrs. Dangerfield in room 157 SAS Counselors: Mr. Munger in room 133 and Mrs. Navarrete in room 234 IB/AP Coordinator: Mrs. Neff in room 136 9. The 9th grade students should write down both Zone and Corral, 10th grade students should write down their Corral 10. If kids need help with this, they may need help with what each counselor does. 9th graders should write down their Zone and Corral counselor 10th graders should write down their Corral Counselor If they are in a class that takes 2 class periods, they should write down CTE Counselor If they are planning on taking dual credit, or going to college after high school, they should write down College Counselor If they are in AP or IB (or Pre AP or Pre IB) classes, they should write down IB/AP Coordinator If the student knows their counselor is Mr. Brower, Mrs. Padilla, or Mrs. Dangerfield write down their information. The 2 SAS counselors would be good for all of the kids to write down so they know where to find them if they ever need to. Both of these counselors are a great resource for our students when they are in a crisis, need some extra support, etc. 9. What Zone and/or Corral do you belong to? 10. Write down the name and room number of at least 3 counselors you need to know.