High School Tracks

Independent educators have an advantage when it comes to providing for the educational needs of their children. The communication process for the home school family is fairly simple. Parents communicate to the student what they need to know, students respond appropriately, and if there is a breakdown in communication, it’s relatively simple to repair and move on.

Even though parents take on a variety of responsibilities such as teacher, administrator, and guidance counselor, communication between the parent and student is straight forward.

On the other hand, most types of educational institution will have any given number of people on staff to fill these positions. This would only make sense because they are responsible for meeting the educational needs of a much larger pool of students. As a result, the communication process becomes more complex.

To improve upon their communication process, most schools create tracks that enable the school to provide a clear set of requirements for student’s, parents, and staff to follow. Student’s will review their options, ask questions, and decide which track they should choose.

Even though there is not a need for the 3^rd option association and/or 3^rd option home schools to establish a series of tracks, we believe it is beneficial for parents and their students to be aware they exist for the following reasons:

1. The office of PIE provides a knowledge management resource that promotes, encourages, and supports parents with students interested in obtaining a higher education, the equivalent of Track I.

2. By understanding the differences, parents become better equipped to communicate with their student the benefits and/or limitations placed upon them at various stages of accomplishments.

3. Some students will return to the public or private school systems. By becoming aware of the differences, home school parents and students will be able to review their options, ask questions, and make informed decisions.

Tracks are designed to provide a clear set of requirements for students, parents, and school administrators to follow. Tracks will vary from school to school depending on their services and expertise. What works for one may not work for another.

You may find one school offers an Honors College Preparatory Diploma as Track I, College Preparatory Diploma as Track II, and not offer a Track III at all. While another school with a more versatile and complex set of services will offer a College Preparatory Diploma Track I, General Diploma Track II, and a Non-Diploma Track III.

You may discover through research that both, the Honors College Preparatory Diploma Track I from the first school, and the College Preparatory Diploma Track I from the second school have prepared similar courses.

Discovering and understanding the differences between schools and their various tracks can be accomplished by analyzing and comparing the rigors of the content in their courses.

Rigorous Courses

Most students will take college prep courses while some take more rigorous courses, such as honors, dual enrollment, and/or advanced placement, to increase their overall GPR.

• College Preparatory courses are intended for the student who anticipates enrolling into an institution of higher education with goals of obtaining a four year degree.

• Tech Preparatory courses are for students seeking additional training, usually a two year degree in a technical college.

• Honors courses are intended for students who have the competence to think in complex ways and to apply their knowledge and skills

• Dual enrollment courses are offered through participating institutions of higher education and may be awarded the same weight as honors courses.

• Advanced placement courses are available to homeschool students. The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program enables students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school.

• International Baccalaureate courses are not available to home school students.

Visit the Curriculum page for further information concerning selecting high school courses for the South Carolina home school student.

General Educational Development (GED)

The General Educational Development examination is a nationally-norm high school equivalency examination program for adults. The GED is composed of a series of five tests that evaluates participants’ skills and knowledge in the areas of Language Arts Reading, Language Arts Writing, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science.

GED Testing Office 402 Rutledge Building

1429 Senate Street

Columbia, SC 29201

Phone: (803) 734-8347

Fax: (803)734-8336

dstout@sde.state.sc.us

http://www.sclrc.org

Visit the following related links:

• Cap and Gown

• Class Ring

• College Admissions Resources

• High School Tracks

• Palmetto Fellows Scholarship