A WORK IN PROGRESS Fabian Partida, Othello School District Migrant Graduation Specialist
Does your school/district have a policy or process for accepting or transcribing Mexico credits? Does you school have a partial crediting process in place for migrant/non-migrant students? Are seat time hours a factor in your school? How involved are you in that process? Are you able to transcribe or does that responsibly fall on the counselors?
Use what is available to you. Back in 2006 the Yakima School District and OSPI work in collaboration to create a course equivalency chart for the CONEVyT program. This chart covered both the secundaria and the preparatoria courses. Keep in mind that this was a while ago. InET (Innovative Educational Technologies) Consortium had also offered training modules on understanding the differences between the US and Mexican school systems. Resources are available under the Binational Program section of the MSDRS website: https://www.msdr.org/binational/program
You have a valid document. There are false ones out there. Many students/families bring in un-sealed documents. I have found that the Mexican Consulate in Seattle is more than willing to verify the validity of the documents provided. What grade are we talking about When a student tells you secundaria (secondary) that does not mean just middle school. The secundaria covers up to 9 th grade. Did they complete the year or are they coming to you with partial credits? (seat time factor)
Level of education reported? Primaria (grades 1-6) Secundaria (grades 7-9) Preparatoria ( Bachillerato on transcript) (grades 10-12+) Universidad (college)
Which grade level? Washington Junior High 7 th grade 8 th grade High School 9 th grade 10 th grade 11 th grade 12 th grade Mexico Secundaria Primero grado Segundo grado Tercero grado Bachillerato Primero grado Segundo grado Tercero grado
135 seat hrs each: History of Mexico Civics & Ethics Physics Chemistry Foreign Language Hist/Geog of State Vocational Ed 225 seat hrs each: Spanish Mathematics 90 seat hrs each: Art Physical Education
Course Title Course & Credit Equivalency Graduation Credit Met 1 Matemáticas I Algebra I 1 1 2 Matemáticas II Algebra II 1 1 3 Matemáticas IV Pre-Calculus 1 Elective 4 Cálculo Diferencial e Integral I Calculus Ia* 0.5 Elective 5 Cálculo Diferencial e Integral II Calculus Ib* 0.5 Elective 6 Matemáticas III Geometry 1 1 7 Estadística Descriptiva e Inferencial I Statistics Ia 0.5 Elective 8 Estadística Descriptiva e Inferencial II Statistics Ib 0.5 Elective 1 Geografía Advanced Earth Science* 0.5 Elective 2 Ciencia de la Salud I Anatomy and Physiology* 0.5 Elective 3 Biología I Biology Ia 0.5 0.5 4 Biología II Biology Ib 0.5 0.5 5 Química I Chemistry Ia 0.34 Elective 6 Química II Chemistry Ib 0.34 Elective 7 Química III Chemistry Ic 0.34 Elective 8 Ecología Ecology and Biology * 0.5 Elective 9 Física I Physics Ia 0.34 Elective 10 Física II Physics Ib 0.34 Elective 11 Física III Physics Ic 0.34 Elective 12 Física Moderna I Advanced Physics Ia* 0.5 Elective 13 Física Moderna II Advanced Physics Ib* 0.5 Elective 14 Métodos de Investigación I Science Methods Research Ia (* & **) 0.34 Elective 15 Métodos de Investigación II Science Methods Research Ib (* & **) 0.68 Elective 1 Historia de México I (History of México I) Advanced World History Ia (* &**) 0.5 Elective 2 Historia de México II (History of México II) Advanced World History Ib (* &**) 0.5 Elective 3 Filosofía I Philosophy Ia (* & **) 0.5 Elective 4 Filosofía II Philosophy Ib (* & **) 0.5 Elective 5 Economía I Economics Ia* 0.5 0.5 6 Economía II Economics Ib* 0.5 0.5 7 Sociología I Sociology Ia* 0.5 Elective 8 Sociología II Sociology Ib* 0.5 Elective 9 Antropología I Anthropology Ia (* &**) 0.5 Elective 10 Antropología II Anthropology Ib (* &**) 0.5 Elective 1 Taller de Lectura y Redacción I Native Spanish 3a* 0.5 Elective 2 Taller de Lecturay Redacción II Native Spanish 3b* 0.5 Elective 3 Literatura I Native Spanish 4a* 0.5 Elective 4 Literatura II Native Spanish 4b* 0.5 Elective 5 Taller de Análisis de la Comunicación I Native Spanish 5a* 0.5 Elective 6 Taller de Análisis de la Comunicación II Native Spanish 5b* 0.5 Elective Health 1 Ciencia de la Salud II Health 0.5 0.5 1 Redes Network Analysis 1 1 2 Base de Datos I Database Ia 0.5 0.5 3 Base de Datos II Database Ib 0.5 0.5 4 Laboratorio de Informática I Office User Specialist 0.5 0.5 5 Laboratorio de Informática II Office Specialist 0.5 0.5 6 Contabilidad I Accounting Ia and Bookkeeping 0.34 0.34 7 Contabilidad II Accounting Ib and Bookkeeping 0.34 0.34 8 Contabilidad III Accounting Ic and Bookkeeping 0.34 0.34 Math Science Social Studies World Language Technology
Yakima School District WAC 180-57-050 Yakima School District WAC 180-57-050 Passed Course Letter Grade Whole / Partial 4 Point Scale 100 Point Scale 10 Point Scale* Excellent A+ 100 10 Very Good A 4.0 9 A- 3.7 90 B+ 3.3 Good B 3.0 8 B- 2.7 80 C+ 2.3 Average C 2.0 7 C- 1.7 70 D+ 1.3 Not Satisfactory D 1.0 60 6 Did Not Pass Course Failed F 0.0 59-0 5-0
Not all schools have one. Some schools only have one for migrant students This is a great starting point for those of you who would like to help students who are migrant, new to the US, or just students that moved to your school for non-migrant reasons. *sometimes baby steps are better than no steps at all.*
Highly mobile students like migrant students, who have sometimes studied in Mexico, move frequently between school districts as their families follow crop cycles. For these students, a barrier to high school graduation is lack of credit for the partial work completed before moving. This is only getting harder considering the 24 credit requirements as well as the coursed unable to students due to ELL electives.
Bi-National Transfer Document Useful for those students who are traveling to and from Mexico in the current year. Only concern is that math is not specific to Alg./Geo./etc. Certificate of Completion for the secundaria Since all of Mexico's pre-k to 9 th grade is nationally prescribed then the certificate can assist you in at least placing the student appropriately. I always have them request a copy of their transcript which shows the courses they completed and the grades received. Transcript from a Preparatoria or Escuela Técnica Since preparatorias are more like private schools, these documents vary from school to school. Use equivalency chart to the best of your ability and then use your resources to determine the rest. (Electives are helpful as well) Validity of the documents is always a concern.
Since these equivalencies are dated, it is always good practice to work with your teachers to ensure that students are ready to move on to the next class. I have a group of teachers I work with to verify/test a student to see if they are ready to move on. Consider ELL status and if primary language will be a barrier towards their enrollment in the appropriate course. Verification of authenticity of documents. Still a work in progress.
If you have a system set up at your school, please let me know. (fpartida@othelloschools.org) I hope that this is just a start and that soon there will be a more hands-on training available in the future.