1. Alabama Non-Traditional High School Diploma Option Program (HSO)
A Partnership between ACCS/Adult Education and Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

2. Overview
The Alabama Non-Traditional High School Diploma Option (HSO) is an alternative to the GED high school equivalency, designed for students who have completed all of the required credits for graduation but failed the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE), or students who have dropped out of the traditional high school setting.

3. The program provides two options:
Option 1 – For an adult who attended an Alabama high school and earned enough credits to graduate, but did not pass the high school graduation exam.
Option 2 – For an adult who earned 10 or more credits from an Alabama high school and requires additional credits for high school completion.

4. Eligibility for Option 1
Participant must have all 24 credits required to graduate from a traditional high school, or the number of credits established by the local school system that the participant last attended
Must be at least 17 years of age
Did not pass the Alabama High School Graduation Exam

5. Eligibility for Option 2
Participants must have at least 10 credits of the 24 credits required to graduate from a traditional high school in Alabama
Minimum age of 17
Participants must assess on the TABE (Test for Adult Basic Education)
TABE Score must be in the High Intermediate level
(grade equivalency or higher)

6. FORMS The following is a list of the forms associated with HSO:
Eligibility Form
Step-by-Step Guidance
Transcript Request Form
Transcript Audit Form
Plan of Instruction for Option 1
Plan of Instruction for Option 2
Non-Traditional High School Diploma Options Official Transcript

7. Important To Remember…
The student process for the HSO program should initiate with K-12. If the student contacts AE first, the AE program should provide the student with a HSO Options Transcript Request Form and refer the student to the contact for their last Alabama high school attended. Once the official HS transcript and accompanying Transcript Audit Form is received for the student (preferably in electronic format from the high school/school system; however, an official transcript may be accepted as long as it is in a sealed envelope and contains the school seal), the AE program can then determine the student’s eligibility for the HSO Program under Option 1 or Option 2.
If a student wishes to begin working with the AE program prior to their official high school transcript being received, the program may allow the student to complete orientation/intake, complete with TABE assessment, as any other AE student would. The student’s POI may need to be adjusted once the high school transcript is received and reviewed.

8. Out-of-State Students
Out-of-state students, who attended an Alabama High School, and completed all required credits to graduate, but failed to pass the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE), may participate, on a case-by-case basis, in the HSO Option 1 only. We will not be able to assist out-of-state students needing to build credits (Option 2). The out-of-state student participating in the HSO Option 1 will have a limited plan of instruction (POI), to include only WorkKeys Assessment or Prior Learning Assessment.
For an out-of-state student, K-12 will contact ACCS/Adult Education to determine a student’s eligibility. If ACCS/AE approves the student as being eligible to participate, an will be sent to the local AE program which services the area of the student’s high school last attended. The local program will be provided with contact information for the student, and will need to contact the student and complete the registration/intake process with the student. At this time, we are working on a method to enter an HSO out-of-state student in AAESAP, but until the process is formalized, a paper file will need to be maintained for the out-of-state student. A TABE assessment will not be required for this type of student at this time.

9. Important Lists and other References
K-12 Ed Directory – provides your contact person(s) at the local high schools and school systems (this will be forwarded to each Director to share with your team)
PLA Contact List – provides the PLA Contact at each of our community colleges (this will be forwarded to each director to share with your team)
Step-by-Step PLA instructions – provides information regarding the PLA process. This may be beneficial information for the student as they walk through the POI options. You and your team are NOT responsible for assessing PLA – this would be a referral to the PLA Contact at the campus.

10. HSO Q&A Who issues the diploma to HSO students?
Answer: The Alabama High School that the student last attended
What type of diploma will the student receive?
Answer: The diploma will be an actual State of Alabama High School Diploma
Who initiates the HSO process?
Answer: The process is initiated by the adult who gets his/her official transcripts from the local school system.
In regard to the official transcripts, how will these be sent to the AE program?
Answer: The preferred method is that the transcripts will be sent electronically to the AE program from the high school or school system. However, an official transcript may be accepted from the student if the transcript is in a sealed envelope, and contains the school seal.
Will a student already enrolled in Adult Education be eligible to participate in HSO?
Answer: Yes, if they qualify. They have to meet all the eligibility requirements, and they would have
to request an official transcript from the high school they last attended.
Are students who complete the HSO Program eligible for the free 3-hour college class?
Answer: Unfortunately, no, as this is only for students who complete a GED, per Board Policy.

11. HSO and AAESAP…
We are working with our AAESAP Team as they develop the programming necessary to support HSO. Due to the volume of changes this will require in AAESAP, this will be delivered in phases. A draft of the HSO Option Design that the AAESAP Team prepared has been sent to the Directors for review, and provides a great summary of the HSO process. While not all functionality will be available by the launch date of Sept. 29th, we will notify the field of the functionalities available as the various phases are completed.
Register Student Page:
There will be new functionality added to the existing Create/Register Student page, and step will be added between Tests and Goals/Outcomes for HSO. There will be a checkbox at the top to choose if the student is participating in HSO. When the checkbox is checked, the user will be able to use a dropdown to choose whether the student is using Option 1 or Option 2. There will also be dropdowns to choose the school system and high school last attended. The user will be able to enter the date the student’s eligibility for HSO was verified by the AE Director, and any notes. There will be the capability to upload a copy of the student’s official HS transcript into AAESAP. AAESAP will validate the student’s age to determine
eligibility. (All of this information and more may be found on page 12 of the HSO Option Design)

12. HSO and AAESAP…
On the student page, there will be a new tab added for HSO. If the student is not already enrolled in HSO, a link will be displayed to the “Enroll in HSO Option” page. If the student is already enrolled, 4 new tabs will be displayed: Enrollment, POI, Credits, and Approval.
The Enrollment Tab will display the information entered during the Register Student process or on the “Enroll in HSO Option” page. It will have the ability to upload an updated transcript form the school system and will allow a history of transcripts to be reviewed.
The POI Tab will house the Plan of Instruction (POI) completed during the student registration process or Enroll in HSO Option page. It will also have a link to the Edit POI page. Entries for tools and resources, comments, and notes on student’s progress will be shown in 3 grids showing the history of information listed.
The Credits Tab will contain a grid showing a history of credits earned by the student during the registration. Data will include the number of credits, date earned, how earned, who entered/approved the credit, when it was entered.
The Approval Tab is used when the student is ready to be submitted to the program director
for review as a completer.
This information and more can be found on pages of the HSO Option Design document.

13. HSO and AAESAP… It is possible that by the launch date, there will at least be the ability to enter the student as an HSO student. We will provide updates as available, and if we are not able at launch date to enter the student as an HSO participant, we will enter them as a regular Adult Education student, and update the student status and information in AAESAP when possible. It will be especially important for reporting
purposes to identify the student as an HSO student.
This will not be perfect as we begin the process, but we will do our best and work to improve upon it, as we provide an invaluable service to many Alabama adults.