Transcript Audit & Graduation€¦ · 20/05/2019 · Transcript Work Is Still Ongoing Transcript Audit & Graduation: Update for the Richmond City School Board Richmond Public Schools

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Transcript Audit & GraduationUpdate for the Richmond City School Board

Presented by: Tracy Epp, Chief Academic Officer

Venue: Richmond City School Board Meeting

Date: May 20, 2019

Transcript Work Is Still Ongoing

Transcript Audit & Graduation: Update for the Richmond City School Board

2Richmond Public Schools | May 20, 2019

• As of today, senior transcripts have been reviewed eight times. (Multiple rounds have been necessary, as new issues have been identified in each round.)

• All 9th, 10th, and 11th grade transcripts have been reviewed at least twice, with a third round in process for those that are still displaying errors.

• At this point, errors are almost entirely defined by: courses taken multiple times for credit, courses taken in middle school and inappropriately assigned credit, and unapproved local courses that shouldn’t have resulted in credit.

So far…

Next steps

• Transcripts for 9th, 10th, and 11th graders are awaiting third round review (second round changes have been completed).

• Newly finalized business rules (as of 5-16-19) from VDOE will be applied in next round of review.

• Once final grades are in, for a small set of students, duplicate credits will be removed.

Big Step Forward With New Transcript Format


OLD


NEW


In addition to issues related to the transcript itself, the Administration has uncovered other significant gaps:

Ineffective scheduling/course selection • Students scheduled into courses they have already taken, even in the current year• Seniors not scheduled for a sequential elective (required for graduation) • Seniors not scheduled for a full course load

Lack of systematic tracking of progress to graduation• Seniors missing verified credits • Seniors missing a CTE credential (this was not previously reported or tracked on transcripts)• Seniors missing necessary courses but not enrolled in those courses

Absence of codified business rules that prevent technology from being a reliable tool• No systems for validating course codes, titles, or weights• No checks or validations of GPA and class rank algorithms• No standard workflows with designated owners and approvers• No systems for how to consistently communicate data


Audit Has Revealed Much Deeper Issues Than the Transcript Itself


Lack of verified credits (as required by diploma type)• By far, this is the most common reason for a student being at risk (~330 students).• Students earn verified credits by passing an end-of-course SOL exam or by qualifying for a

locally-awarded verified credit.• Students in this situation often pass the course but do not meet the standard on the SOL

exam.• In such a case, the Division is required to certify the student’s mastery of course content

through some other mechanism before awarding the credit. This has typically not happened. Credit has typically been awarded automatically. RPS is no longer doing this.

Lack of CTE credential (for standard diploma only)• This is the second most common reason for a student being at risk (~130 students).

Lack of appropriate coursework (as required by diploma type) • This is the third most common reason for a student being at risk (~70 students).• Students may not be currently scheduled in a necessary class, may be missing a sequential

elective, or may be failing one or more classes (which has the potential to be a more significant issue this year due to the new attendance policy).


Those Issues May Have an Impact on Graduation Rates This Year


• Students who need more time are already on summer school forecast lists and have been registered for courses. Letters to parents were sent home with details about what those students will need to do to graduate by the end of the summer.

• Students have been scheduled for the correct courses via our online learning platform and have been placed in SOL remediation, among other student-specific strategies to complete graduation requirements.

• Some students may require additional coursework after summer school and will graduate in 2019-20. We are hoping to help as many of these students as possible complete all remaining course work in one semester.


Individual Action Plans for Students At Risk of Not Graduating


School On Track Likely June Likely Summer Likely 2019-20

Armstrong High School 8 100 23 31

Franklin Military Academy 44 3 0 0

George Wythe High School 84 43 45 34

Huguenot High School 160 71 43 34

John Marshall High School 86 12 23 8

Open High School 51 1 0 0

Richmond Alternative School 3 0 13 5

Richmond Community High School 51 1 0 0

Thomas Jefferson High School 20 72 15 6

Total Students 303 507 162 118


Current Graduation Projections


Thought the Administration of course wants to do everything possible to ensure as many RPS seniors as possible graduate, it will be ending some inappropriate practices that have artificially boosted graduation rates in the past. For example, we will be:

• Instituting a consistent and documented process for ensuring the proper awarding of Locally-Awarded Verified Credits (LAVCs), which, as noted in a prior slide, had previously been granted automatically;

• No longer allowing the pre-emptive use of the WorkKeys assessment to be used as a substitute for the Reading/Writing SOLs; and

• Monitoring the changing of diploma type from Standard to Applied Studies in junior and senior year.


Inappropriate Graduation Practices RPS Will No Longer Continue



Launching “Graduation Progress Report” to Monitor Next Year


While the foundation for preventing future errors is training, we’ll also implement measures to proactively track data and correct any issues in the event that they make it onto transcripts.

5

Clear Process for Error Correction

If all else fails, we will have clearly articulated processes for correcting

transcript issues, recording the actions, and communicating them with families.

3

Scheduling and Academic Advising

Counselors use training to intentionally schedule students appropriately to meet graduation requirements for their chosen

diploma track.

1Training and Institutional

KnowledgeCounselors, school leaders, SIS Ops,

central office staff, and other key stakeholders will understand graduation

requirements, transcript maintenance procedures, and other related protocols

and procedures.

4

Proactive Data MonitoringWe’re setting up a data dashboard that will flag in real-time any transcript errors that appear (e.g., duplicate courses, incorrectly applied class rank policy, etc.)

2

Aligned and Approved Course OfferingsOur program of studies will follow state and local policies and directly feed our course catalog, eliminating the possibility of unapproved or miscoded courses.


Launching Other Measures to Safeguard Integrity of Transcripts

Documents

Transcript Audit & Graduation€¦ · 20/05/2019 · Transcript Work Is Still Ongoing Transcript Audit & Graduation: Update for the Richmond City School Board Richmond Public Schools