The following placement procedures apply to any student who has been in attendance in an educational program other than in the Little Chute Area School District and who seeks admission (or re-admission) to the District:
Grade and Curricular Placement
The District reserves the right to determine grade and curricular placement of all students entering, or re-entering, the school system. The building principal, with the assistance of a school counselor and/or other appropriate staff members, shall determine all grade placements of transfer students.
Students entering the school system who are identified as having (or as possibly having) special needs (e.g., students with disabilities, English language learners) shall be placed in appropriate programs and provided appropriate services in accordance with established District policies and procedures and applicable legal requirements.
The District will make reasonable efforts to request and obtain the student’s prior educational records, whether related to the student’s attendance at another school or school district or in a home-based educational program. For example, if the student was enrolled in a home-based educational program in Wisconsin, the District will request any available records that indicate the content and rigor of the sequential curriculum provided for the student in various subjects, or that indicate the student’s level of academic progress and achievement. In making placement decisions, the District shall consider at least the following information, to the extent it is available:
- Any available and reliable information that indicates, e.g., the student’s level of academic achievement, the student’s progress relative to applicable standards, and subjects/courses completed;
- The grade level the student has attained at the time he/she seeks admission to the District, as reflected in the academic records received from the student’s previous educational program;
- Other information about the student’s previous school placement(s) (e.g. placement in an alternative educational program, curricular or program modifications that were approved for the student, previous identification as a student who is at-risk, programming offered due to a student’s exceptional
educational interests, needs or requirements, etc.);
- The results of any educational testing or evaluations that have been conducted by the District for purposes of determining or verifying appropriate placement;
- For placement in grades 9-12, the results of the District’s evaluation of credits earned toward graduation;
- Any additional relevant information that is provided by the student’s parent or guardian, or by the student himself/herself; and
- The grade level placement and curriculum that is normally provided to the student’s chronological peers.
The District will place a student in a grade level above or below the grade level of his/her chronological peers only when the District determines that the balance of the available information clearly supports such a placement and that such placement is otherwise in the student’s best educational interests.
Testing and Evaluation in Support of Placement Decisions
Although the District may also decide to initiate educational testing or evaluations of a transfer student in other situations, the District shall perform a specific assessment of a transfer student’s current level of progress/achievement in the following situations:
- Whenever, immediately prior to the date of the transfer, the student has been enrolled in a home-based educational program for one full school year or longer, the District shall assess the student in the areas of reading, math, and written language; and
- Whenever a student seeks to transfer into the high school grades and sufficient evidence of the student’s current level of progress/achievement in any of the following areas is not available or is inconclusive, the District shall assess the student in the area(s) in which information is needed: reading, English, math, science, and social studies.
High School Placement and Credit Determinations
High school credits for prior academic work shall be awarded based on an assessment of the academic records received by the District and/or the results of placement tests/evaluations. Transfer students shall be awarded credits toward graduation only upon the District’s verification of successfully completed coursework that is of comparable rigor to the District’s credit-earning secondary-level educational programs. Further, the District will approve such prior academic work as credits toward high school graduation only in numerical proportion to the District’s credit-earning system (i.e., generally, a transfer student will be credited with a maximum of 7 credits toward graduation for each full year of high school below the grade level of placement).
High school course credits and grades earned at a Wisconsin public school or other accredited school, and reported on a transcript (or other similar official and verifiable record), shall be accepted as recorded by the school. Such transferred grades will be used for determining the student’s overall grade-point average and class rank in the District if the high school principal determines that there is a reasonable means of converting the grades earned to the District’s grade-point calculation.
Courses/credits earned in nonpublic schools and/or not supported by an official transcript, but awarded high school credit by the building principal, shall be recorded with a grade of “Pass.” Such credits will not be used to determine the student’s overall grade-point average or class rank in the District.
Courses taken while attending a home-based educational program shall be recorded on the student’s high school transcript. Where the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment has approved the awarding of credit for such home-based instruction, the credit shall be recorded with a grade of “Pass.” Such credits will not be used to determine the student’s overall grade-point average or class rank in the District.
Placement Pending District Testing or other Assessments
Where the District determines that it is necessary or appropriate to test or otherwise evaluate a transfer student in order to assess the student’s current level of progress/achievement, and where the assessment cannot be completed prior to the date the student begins to attend school, the assessment shall be completed and the initial placement decision made within thirty (30) school days after beginning attendance. In such cases, the student’s tentative placement will normally be in the grade level of the student’s chronological peers.
Revisions to Initial Placement
The District may review and modify the initial grade-level and/or curricular placement of a transfer student any time that the student’s actual level of progress indicates that the initial placement was not an appropriate placement. Usually, any such review shall be initiated within 60 days from the date the student begins to attend school in the District. Further, any time there is substantial doubt as to the appropriateness of the initial grade level and/or curricular placement of a transfer student, the District shall notify the parent and student of a specific date (no later than 60 days from the date the student begins to attend school in the District) by which the District will review, and potentially modify, the student’s placement. The student’s parent or guardian may also request that such a date be set.
Appeals
In the event that there is an appeal on behalf of the student regarding the placement of a transfer student, or regarding the approval of high school credit(s) for a transfer student, a written appeal may be made to the District Administrator. An appeal of a placement decision shall be made within 60 days from the date the student begins to attend school in the District, and an appeal of a decision regarding transfer credits shall be made within 60 days of the high school’s decision to deny requested credit. The decision of the District Administrator on any such appeal shall be final.
