WHAT IS 13TH GRADE?
Sometimes adding a school year after the 12th grade makes a lot of sense. Some call it a super-senior year or a gap-year. Students may use it to complete high school credits that were missed earlier for whatever reason, or they use it to build an impressive high school transcript or work on a particular skill that will enable them to get into a great school or earn scholarships. A year of intensive music practice, ACT prep, or sports training minus a large academic load can help a student get into a competitive college. It’s like red-shirting for college. Another reason to not graduate a student “on time” is to take advantage of a dual enrollment loophole.
DOES IT LOOK BAD?
My husband and I got over the feeling of pride when we red-shirted one of our children in kindergarten. As one teacher put it, “Do you want your daughter to be at the top of her class or at the bottom?” That was all we needed to hear to make a tough decision. We caught a lot of flack from family members for that, but it ended up being a terrific decision. I know a lot of parents who wish they had done that in kindergarten because it gets harder and harder to hold a student back later. A super-senior year may be a great fit for a student who should have been held back at some point. A super-senior year can be used to catch up in a few areas or give the student more time to mature.
If you worry about what others will think, there are ways to market the year to avoid scrutiny. The designation of “13th grade” or “super senior year” is just that – a designation. You can call the year anything you want; no one has to know that the high school transcript is still in progress. In fact, the extra year may not look like a traditional school year at all. The year can include a combination of any of the following: high school courses, employment, community college courses, CLEP exams, internships, private lessons, and sports. To the outsider, it can look like a “gap-year” or a year off between educational ventures. If your student is taking courses at the community college, it can look like a college year too. Call it a gap-year if you must but keep building that impressive high school transcript.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE LOOPHOLE
There is a financial advantage to adding an extra year. Our community college allows 11th and 12th graders to take courses tuition-free. After high school graduation, however, a student has to pay tuition. From what I’ve seen in the community, most 11th graders are not mature enough or experienced enough academically to handle three or more college courses per semester.
If you are into cost savings, you’d want your student to complete as many courses as possible starting in the 11th grade. That means your student would start off taking full course-loads (15+ credits) each semester, which he may not be ready for. By pushing out your child’s intended graduation date a year, you can delay entry into a dual enrollment program. That gives a student an extra year to mature before taking on a full course load. That extra year at home provides an excellent opportunity to earn early college credits through CLEP exams and get a head start on an associate degree. To outsiders, that second year (13th grade) will look like a year of college because that’s what it is. Read CLEP Quick Start: DIY to learn about CLEP exams.
HOW TO MANEUVER THE LOOPHOLE
Now about that loophole. The dual enrollment program at our community college is designed for two years and not three. If your student takes a few courses in the junior and senior years and attempts to enroll as a “super-senior” for a third year, she will not be allowed to enroll. The other scenario that an administrator disallows is adding a super-senior year after starting the program in the senior year.
The way around this is to be proactive. Forward your student’s intended graduation date by one year on the very first transcript you submit to the community college. For example, adjust the intended graduation date on the high school transcript so that your senior looks like a junior and adjust the courses accordingly. Not every single course your child has taken in high school needs to go on this particular transcript.
That is what I did with my daughter. As a junior, she was not organized enough to handle a full course load at a community college. One year made a big difference, though. In her senior year, she enrolled in the community college as a high school junior. She was able to handle a full course load at that time. Being considered a high school junior at the community college did not preclude her from applying to four-year colleges as a high school senior that year either. For these applications, a new transcript was made making her a senior in high school. We wanted to find out if she could snag a decent scholarship. Thankfully, she was able to do that, so a 13th year was not needed. But it was comforting knowing that she had that option.
Read my post Two Paths to College to find out how to integrate dual enrollment or trade courses with high school courses.
IDEAL STUDENTS FOR AN EXTRA YEAR
An extra year of “high school” is perfect for a student who is not eager or prepared to begin a four-year college or career upon graduation. But if your student is chomping at the bit to grow up and leave home, an extra year of school could be devastating. As parents, we have to carefully weigh out our children’s needs versus our wants. Sometimes that’s hard to do.
OUR STORY OF HURRY
Before my children were in high school, I imagined them graduating early with lots of college credits. That’s what drew me into CLEP testing. We were in a hurry. One of my daughters wanted to earn a bachelor’s degree in the 12th grade through CLEP exams and online college. In the tenth grade, she was accepted to an online college as a junior and had to make a big decision whether to proceed or not. She had more information about herself in the tenth grade than in the 8th grade when she began earning CLEP credits. She decided against early college. I’m thankful we slowed down and weighed out other options. Read about her journey in Bachelor’s Degree in the 12th Grade to find out the drawbacks we discovered with that plan.
MY ADVICE: SLOW DOWN
After that experience, my advice is to slow down. Don’t be in a hurry to graduate your child early. One of the motives is to say that your child is brilliant and hard-working or that homeschooling provides awesome opportunities, but what ultimately matters is making decisions that will fit your child the best. I know several situations in which prideful parents pushed their children into a dual enrollment program too early and their children failed. This is not good for a child’s self-esteem or the parent-child relationship.
Sometimes it pays to wait. Kids need time to develop and try new things. They need to keep an open mind so they don’t miss an opportunity to discover a passion. The longer we wait, the more we can understand our children and they themselves. Teenagers go through a lot of changes and not always on a predictable schedule. I have learned to slow down and wait for more information before making defining decisions regarding my children. Education is not a race or a competition.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
James 4:13
Musing: a period of reflection or thought. As such this post reflects my thoughts, opinions, and experiences on the topic. The choice to home school and the methods you choose are yours to determine.