BERRYESSA CHINESE SCHOOL

CREDIT RECOGNITION PROGRAM

INTRODUCTION

Berryessa Chinese School (BCS) currently offers credit recognition program in conjunction with certain school districts in the San Jose area. These programs grant credits to students attending high schools in these districts for taking Chinese language courses at BCS. The program content varies from district to district. The following table summarizes the participating Districts and the credits they offer.

School District	High School	# of credits per Year	Course Hrs Rqrd’ per Yr	Max. Credits Granted	Grading Method
East Side Union	Andrew Hills	5	80	20	Pass/Fail
	Independence
	James Lick
	Mt. Pleasant
	Oak Grove
	Overfelt
	Piedmont Hills
	Santa Teresa
	Silver Creek
	Yerba Buena
Fremont Unified	American	10	120	30	Letter
	Irvington
	Kennedy
	Mission SJ
	Washington
Fremont Union	Cupertino	10	120	30	Letter
	Fremont
	Homestead
	Lynbrook
	Monta Vista
	Phoenix
Milpitas Unified	Calaveras Hills	10	120	40	Letter
	Milpitas
San Jose Unified	Gunderson	10	120	40	Letter
	Leland
	Lincoln
	Pioneer
	Willow Glen
Pleasanton Unified		8	120	32	Letter
Palo Alto Unified		10	120	30	Letter

To be eligible for credits, students MUST

· Be currently attending 9-12 grades in one of the districts above and the BCS at the same time.

· Fulfill the 80 or 120 hour requirement by attending the Chinese language class regularly for the whole school year.

· Complete all course requirements and obtain a grade point average of 2.0 (C) or higher for the course.

· Take the Final Competency Test at the end of the school year and pass with a score of 70% or above

IMPLEMENTATION

1. Students must complete Part I of the petition form at the beginning of the school year. Forms are available at the BCS Piedmont office. Please note that the form for the East Side School District is different from the form used for the other Districts. After completing Part I of the form, students must submit it to the Administrator or Associate Principal of Instructions of their high school for approval and signature in Part II.

2. Students then should submit the petition form with Part I and II completed to BCS office by the last week of October and pay a $10 non-refundable application fee. Please indicate your Chinese name, language class, and the culture class selected on the right corner of the application form.

3. Eighty course hours can be fulfilled by attending the language class regularly for the school year, having satisfactory classroom behavior and earning a course grade of C or above. For the East Side School Districts, these hours may satisfy the hour requirement of the program. School is considering standardize the credit program teaching as a 120 hours program. Once the decision is made, all east side students will need to follow the same BCS standard regardless the school district’s minimal requirement. BCS will discuss with East Side school district to seek 10 credits per school year as other school districts offer.

4. Forty additional course hours are required for students from Districts other than East Side. This hour’s requirement MUST be met by taking a Special Chinese Culture Class (CS9 or CS10) for credit recognition program (30 hours) and doing special projects (10 hours) in this Special Chinese Culture class. BCS had developed many Chinese culture topics for this class. Different topics will be taught by different teachers.

5. Regular attendance is crucial in grading students’ performance. Students missing over 1/3 of the school time will be denied of the program. Absence with acceptable excuses must be made up by completing designated homework. Absence with no excuses will be recorded as deduction of grades.

6. In addition to the course hour requirement, students must pass the Final Competency Test at the end of the school year. The test is always held in the first week of May at BCS Piedmont Campus. It is developed by BCS based on instruction criteria specified in the program proposal presented to and approved by the School Districts.

7. BCS administrators will grade the test papers, verify course work performance, and complete Part III of the petition form with the test result as well as the grade given.

8. The petition form together with a certificate of completion will be returned to students in the last week of the school year. Students must submit this form to the administrator of their high school for credit recording.

FINAL COMPETENCY TEST

This test is made up of four levels: Chinese I, II, III, and IV. Students should start from Level I and can only take one level each year. Students can take the next higher level only if they passed the previous level. Each level is equivalent to the corresponding level of the Foreign Language Course offered in high schools. The textbooks primarily for testing are Oversea Chinese Languages Volume 1-12. Other reference books include Chinese Language Arts Student Workbook and Picture Book, Chinese New Lesson, Chinese Language Art, and A Traveler’s Guide to Chinese History.

Generally, the Level I test covers the Oversea Chinese Language Volumes 1-4, Level II test covers Volumes 5.7, Level III covers Volumes 8-10, and Level IV covers Volumes 11-12. The Sample Test and study material for the Competency Test will be distributed to students at the end of the first semester. Since this test will not be covered in the regular language class, students are expected to study for the test on their own. The test result will primarily determine the grade reported to the students’ high school.

QUESTIONS/INFORMATION

For questions or further information, please check with your language teacher or office assistant at the BCS Piedmont office, who will forward your requests or questions to the program administrator for attention.