COURSE CODES AND THE ACTIVITY CODING SYSTEM

COURSE CODES AND THE ACTIVITY CODING SYSTEM

Agenda General Overview Content and Codes SC Uniform Grading Policy Creating Instructional Activity Codes Credit Types Credit Weightings LBA Courses Dual Credit Courses SPED Courses

Overview The Activity Coding System includes the standardized codes for courses, instructional activities, and non-instructional activities used in the student information systems in South Carolina public schools. The Activity Coding System is the foundation on which course codes, class scheduling, and class sections are built. The system standardizes data that are collected for federal and state funding and accountability purposes. The Activity Coding System provides the coding system for both regular instructional activities, and special education instructional activities. This is in addition to the noninstructional activities.

Content and Codes Content Course content is developed and/or approved in the various offices within the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) responsible or curriculum and instruction. Course codes are assigned to courses by the Office of Federal and State Accountability. Codes The Office of Federal and State Accountability does not create or approve course content; however, prior to the creation and assignment of a course code, the course content must exist. In order to assign a course code, the Office of Federal and State Accountability must have a course title, description, objectives, recommended grade levels, prerequisites, course credit, and content summary.

SC Uniform Grading Policy Please note the following text from the South Carolina Uniform Grading Policy (January 9, 2007), specifically item C about Honors weighting for courses outside English, mathematics, science, and social studies and dual credit courses: School districts may designate honors courses and give the assigned weighting under the following conditions: A. A honors course must have a published syllabus that verifies rigor sufficiently beyond the College Preparatory (CP) requirements. B. Textbooks and other course materials must be differentiated and more rigorous than those used in CP courses. C. Honors courses may be offered in English, mathematics, science, and social studies. Honors weighting may be designated in other content areas for the third and fourth level of the courses, provided that the two above standards are met. Honors weighting may not be designated in any physical education courses.

Creating Instructional Activity Codes Each dash stands for a character that makes a complete course code. They are eight characters in length. Not 4. Not 7. Not 10. EIGHT!

Creating Instructional Activity Codes Prekindergarten though Grade Six range from 1000 though 1999 The first digit will always be 1 The second digit represents specific instructional areas The third and fourth represent the specific course of study The fifth and sixth are district defined The seventh is 0 The eighth digit is 0, with the exception self-contained prekindergarten, kindergarten, and multiage-grouping classes.

Creating Instructional Activity Codes Grades Seven and Eight range from 2000 through 2999 The first digit will always be 2 The second digit represents specific instructional areas The third and fourth represent the specific course of study The fifth and sixth are district defined The seventh and eighth digits are zeros

Creating Instructional Activity Codes Grades Nine though Twelve (Gen Ed) range from 3000 through 4999 The first digit will always be 3 or 4 The second digit represents specific instructional areas The third and fourth represent the specific course of study The fifth and sixth are district defined The seventh and eighth characters are letters representing the credit type and weight

Credit Types Seventh Character Biology 1 322100CH The seventh character represents the academic tag associated with the course. This also determines the grade scale: C = College Prep A = Advanced Placement (College Board official course) I = International Baccalaureate H = Honors E = Dual Credit Number that represents instructional approach to non-credit special education courses The number 0 (zero) if there is no credit NOTE: Even though the seventh character represents the academic tag, you still need to select the correct grade scale when creating sections.

Credit Weightings Eighth Character Biology 1 322100CH The eighth character represents the unit tag for credit-bearing courses W = Whole unit (1) H = Half unit (.5) D = Two units (2) T = Three units (3) The number 0 if no credit Number that represents the special education instructional area CAUTION when using D or T. It is incredibly wise for you to contact me before submitting a request with either (It boils down to seat time[disclaimer: As the SCPCSD, we are exempt from some items like this unless otherwise outlined in your charter.])

Local Board Approved Courses No LBA course can be Honors unless it is an elective If you have concern regarding this, email me (kstewart@sccharter.org) and we can take this a step further, if need be. It cannot count towards core class graduation criteria There are specific course codes for Local Board Approved course requests. All of which have a similar format:

Dual Credit Courses Dual credit courses whether they are taken at the school where the student is enrolled or at a postsecondary institution are those courses for which the student has been granted permission by his or her home school to earn both Carnegie units and college credit for those particular courses. One quality point is added to the CP weighting for dual credit courses that are applicable to baccalaureate degrees or to associate degreesoffered by accredited institutions (see State Board of Education Regulation 43-234, Defined Program, Grades 9 12). College orientation courses offered by postsecondary institutions carry CP weighting and do not receive honors or dual credit quality points

Titles for Special Education Courses These course titles CANNOT have EH, LD, OH, Resource, etc. in the name Based on the title, it cannot be specific to SPED students only Recommendation from SCDE: Use same titles as general education courses even though course activity code will be different. When you create sections in these courses, that is where you can designate that the students are involved in SPED services We can all blame Darlene Prevatt if we get an OCR complaint based on this Suggestions for Tutorial Academic Support, Academic Studies, or Academic Seminar 19, 29, and 39 are all Special Education prefixes High School SPED students should always receive credit, even electives. Office Aids should not.

Titles for Special Education Courses Please review the various tables for SPED courses. They encompass Self-Contained, Resource, Itinerant, Home-Based, Expelled, and even codes for LBA courses.

Recap Each character has meaning/reasoning behind it. Contrary to popular belief, they are not just made up numbers. The changes keep on coming! (English and Math courses) There is a method to the course code madness! It will greatly behoove you to read the dang manual! Course code requests take place in the ticketing system, it asks all the same questions as the Adobe form did. Utilize it!!!

READ If we get anything through to you, it s to read the manual. It answers all questions and explains everything dealing with course codes thoroughly.