Administrative Procedure: 365
COURSE CHALLENGE
Background
Students may earn credits toward graduation in a variety of ways. In addition to earning credits by successfully completing courses, students may earn credits through challenge.
All students enrolled in the District are entitled to undertake a free challenge process to assess their prior learning for any Ministry authorized graduation program course offered by any school board in the Province that school year, as well as any Board Authorized (BAA) course taught in the District that school year, provided the student has not already completed the course through previous enrolment.
International students must comply with the challenge procedures set out in the Ministry’s International Student Graduation Credit Policy.
Procedures
1. A student can challenge to receive credit for Ministry-Authorized, Board/Authority Authorized or Locally Developed Grade 10, 11 or 12 courses if s/he:
1.1 Is currently enrolled or registered as a home school student in the District.
1.2 Has not completed the course or its equivalent learning outcomes through previous enrollment.
1.3 Can give compelling evidence that s/he will succeed in the challenge.
2. Prior to engaging in a challenge process, principals or designates must review any documentation of prior learning that a student presents in order to determine if credit can be awarded through equivalency. Refer to Ministry of Education Policy, Earning Credit through Equivalency, Challenge, External Credentials, Post-Secondary Credit and Independent Directed Studies.
3. Students must be able to demonstrate their readiness to challenge a course based on factors such as a recommendation from a previous teacher, or from evidence that relevant learning has been acquired outside the regular classroom setting. The demonstration is not to be an onerous process. School staff, in consultation with students and parents, are to make the decision about readiness.
4. Principals or designates must document the challenge assessment delivered to each student, including a pre-Challenge Equivalency review, and the documentation must be made available to Ministry auditors if requested. Examples of assessment strategies that could be used in a challenge process include such things as hands-on demonstrations, oral performances, interviews, written examinations, or presentations of a collection of work.
5. Credit awarded through challenge is measured by the same standards used for students who have taken the course through enrollment. A challenge is considered successful when a student has achieved at least a C- and fifty percent (50%).
5.1 Students challenging a provincially examinable course will be awarded the School Mark portion only in the challenge procedure, and where applicable, must write the Provincial Exam during a regularly scheduled exam session.
6. In some subject areas, students may be able to participate in a course challenge procedure through the Coast-Metro Challenge Consortium.
Reference: Sections 20, 22, 65, 85 School Act
Graduation Order M302/04
Revised: May 2013
Procedure 365