<p>My DS took his first high school credit class in seventh grade. He took 3 high school credit classes in 8th grade. This is quite common for honors level students in our school district. I am wondering how common taking high school credit classes in middle school is in other areas? Do admissions folks consider the age the student is when courses are taken? My son got one A and three B's in these classes, so overall GPA might have been higher if he had taken these courses beginning in ninth grade.</p>
<p>Here in NoVA most Honors students take a year or two of foreign language in MS as well as Algebra and Geometry. It’s pretty standard. </p>
<p>Because these are HS classes, the grades will appear on the HS transcript and will be factored into HS GPA. So yes, the 3 B’s could lower your child’s HS GPA. However colleges typically like to see an upward trend in grades (and some schools ignore grades received Freshman year and prior).</p>
<p>At our middle school, there is only one class that 8th graders travel to the HS to take (and take with high school students), and that’s Honors Algebra 2/Trig. None of my kids have been that advanced in math, so I’m not sure if that class actually shows up on the HS transcripts of the 8th graders who take it, or if it’s factored into GPA. Over 60% of the middle school students in our district take Algebra 1 in middle school (taught at the middle school) and an even larger percentage start their high school language at the 2nd year level. In those cases, Algebra 1 and Language 1 do not appear on the HS transcript and the grades are not included in GPA, because they’re not taken at the high school.</p>
<p>I’m in Tidewater Virginia, so maybe it’s a Va thing. </p>
<p>I know this will be on his transcript, but our district changed the grading scale between his 8th and 9th grade year, to be more similar to the grading scales in NoVa. That hurt his GPA again, because in 7th and 8th the scale was harder.</p>
<p>There are classes taken in middle school that are required for HS graduation (algebra I, foreign language are the usual ones) and I’m not sure if the grades are included in the GPA, but the courses have to appear and more than a few of the kids checking their transcripts have found they weren’t on there.</p>
<p>This is in Florida, so it is common other places too.</p>
<p>Hi
we have the same * issue * or problem , we are in Va Beach so I think I know what you are talking about. Those Bs really pulled down my 2kids GPA &
we didn’t have any experiences w/ this school system.</p>
<p>in hindsight,
we should have selected the option to expunge those grades
but we didn’t
we didn’t know we could do that !</p>
<p>now those Bs are in my D2 high school transcript
she said other kids from her middle school have expunged those Bs</p>
<p>hopefully college admin will look at her stronger 10th/11th/12th grades & forgive those taken in middle school</p>
<p>It seems to be pretty common from what I’ve heard. It also seems to be pretty common that students/parents regret it in high school when they find out that it’s part of the HS transcript. Many seem to want special consideration because the kid took it in middle school and was more advanced than the typical middle school student. For anyone considering this, the best course is to be very educated on the risks and benefits of taking high school course in middle school and making sure you know your district’s policies.</p>
<p>It’s very common where I live (although the district has stopped accelerating two grades ahead in math, so the only hs courses offered to middle schoolers are Spanish and Algebra I). The courses do appear on the hs transcript and figure into the hs GPA. We get a letter from the district explaining that this will be the case, but I think a lot of people ignore it or just don’t seriously consider all possible outcomes.</p>
<p>In our district kids can take high school biology and Algebra 1 in eight grade for high school credit. They and the parents are warned that the grades will be factored into their high school GPA and they don’t recommend it to anyone that they don’t think will get at least a B. My older son was even more accelerated in math, but he had to get carpooled to the high school for more advanced math.</p>
<p>Our middle school offered foreign language which covered the first year of material of high school foreign language, but because they stretched it out over two years they didn’t give it a high school grade - you just went straight into the second year of the language.</p>
<p>It didn’t make any difference to either kids GPA - the grades they got were in line with the grades they got in high school. Even if it had affected the GPA, it’s the only way to take a normal load of APs for those aiming at the most selective colleges. No one gets special consideration because they are all in the same boat.</p>
<p>Odd thing here was that one of my kids got a B in MS Algebra got straight A’s in every HS math class after that including AP Calc. The other got a B in MS Latin, went on to get all A’s in HS Latin again including AP.</p>
<p>Both my kids took Alg. and one took Geometry in middle school. Counted as h.s. credit but was not used in gpa calculation. Thank goodness since S2 made a D in Alg. 1 in 8th grade. I made him retake in 9th grade. He made a B which was calculated in his gpa.</p>
<p>It would seem that if your child is taking advanced and honors courses they’d better take those high school credit offerings available to them in middle school to be competitive later when applying to college. Taking the four courses my son took in middle school allowed him to take other more advanced courses later, including AP’s. </p>
<p>We have kids here that skip their lunch blocks or take PE in summer school in order to take even more courses. So glad I’m not going to school these days!</p>
<p>My son took Algebra, Geometry, Spanish 1&2 and Physical Science in middle school. He is at a private school. Those classes and the grades that he got appear on his transcript but the grades do not factor into his high school GPA (he got all As so it would be great if they did). My understanding is that some colleges recalculate GPAs to consider classes taken in middle school and others do not.</p>
<p>We’re in NoVa. Also very common for honors students to take foreign language and Alg1/Geo. Students and parents are made very aware that these are high school courses, these will be on the high school transcript, and will factor in GPA. For each course a paper must be signed by student and parent with this , and other, information. There are no surprises. Everyone knows upfront.</p>
<p>When my oldest took spanish and high school math in 8th grade the grades and credit did not appear on his high school transcript. However they just changed it this year so if my 7th grader takes them next year they will appear on his transcript. I’m still debating whether or not it’s a good idea…</p>
<p>My D took Algebra 1 in 7th grade and Algebra 2 and Spanish 1 in 8th grade in Illinois. She did not get HS credit, nor was it factored into her GPA. It counted as her middle school math and a middle school elective. It did allow her to take advanced courses in high school.</p>
<p>My oldest took Algebra 2 (7th grade) and pre-calc (8th grade) at the high school, and the youngest took Algebra 2 (8th grade) there as well. They get both the grade and the credit on their high school transcript, so my oldest went in to his freshman year with 2 of his 4 required math credits for graduation. The youngest took his Spanish placement test and earned 1 credit of Spanish, which (combined with his math credit) also gave him 2 credits going into his freshman year. </p>
<p>My oldest (sophomore) is able to take a college class each term and doesn’t need to worry about his college GPA having an effect on his HS GPA, since he has fulfilled his required math credits for graduation. He has the flexibility in his schedule because they counted those credits (along with a before school jazz band class that gives them 1 credit each year toward their 4 credit art/music requirement). The youngest child will be able to take college classes by junior year, and again the credits given for the early math/language classes will give him the flexibility to explore other subjects if he chooses.</p>
<p>My son took Spanish and Algebra in 8th grade for high school credit. The credits are on his transcript but the grades are not. It is similar to classes they test out of for credit.</p>
<p>Different school systems have different policies.</p>
<p>Some count high school courses taken in middle school toward the high school GPA, and the courses and grades appear on the student’s transcript. Others don’t. And still others give students the choice about whether to have those grades included.</p>
<p>If your school system offers a choice, it’s a good idea to find out ahead of time whether courses expunged from the transcript count toward the total required for high school graduation. </p>
<p>Let’s say, for example, that your school system requires two years of foreign language. Your child took Spanish 1 in middle school and got a B. If the child keeps the grade, he only needs to take one more year of Spanish to meet the requirement. But what if he expunges the grade? Would he need to take both Spanish 2 and Spanish 3 to meet it? </p>
<p>Policies in this area can be confusing, and you may need to talk to a guidance counselor (preferably one at the high school).</p>
<p>It seems all high schools work differently on how these appear on transcripts or how the grades factor in. My two kids both took several high school courses or high school level classes by independent study while in middle school. It was due to needing to accelerate in order to have their learning needs met. Our middle school is attached to the high school and so this was able to be worked out. These courses included Algebra I, Geometry, French I, French II, Shakespeare (English class) and Creative Writing (English). The course credits and grades were on their high school transcripts and counted toward the GPA. One of my kids graduated high school after junior year, though that was not the plan when taking these high school classes in middle school.</p>