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What are off-site experiences?

The instructional hours for the course occurs at an out of school or out of classroom site

Internships, jobs and other paid experiences
Out of School Programs
Afterschool programs (clubs, outdoor learning opportunities, college preparation, etc…)
SYEP Lottery, CareerReady SYEP, Work Learn Grow, LTW, Learn and earn, etc..

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Can students earn credit for off-site learning?

Yes. Principals may award high school credit for courses with an off-site component if the course meets all of the following requirements:

Aligns to New York State Department of Education (NYSED) commencement-level learning standards, as documented by the course syllabus
Be taught or overseen by a NYCDOE subject-certified teacher
Includes a classroom/seminar/workshop component in addition to learning time spent off-site, together totaling at least 180 minutes per week throughout the school year, or the equivalent of 54 hours per semester and 45 hours during the summer

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Key Takeaways: Can students earn credit for off-site learning?

The high school credit is processed and delivered to the students by their school.

The course must be aligned to NYSED commencement level learning standards.
The course must be coded into STARS.
A subject certified teacher must be assigned to the course. The subject certified teacher does not need to accompany students to the site.
Students must produce work (assessments, attendance, assignments, projects, etc...) to display mastery in the course.

**Students can receive credit and get paid for the same experience**

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High School Accreditation Steps

Step 1: Building the course (credit alignment, course content documentation, STARS)
Step 2: NYCDOE subject-certified teacher will classroom/seminar/workshop component in addition to learning time spent off-site.
Step 3: Teacher of record will review assignments and projects, and input final grades on STARS at the end of the semester.

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High School Accreditation Steps

Step 1: Building the course:

Establish the type of credit
Subject Certification of the Teacher of Record
Course Content Documentation

Course syllabus

Create a Course Code on STARS prior to the start of semester.

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New York State High School Graduation Requirements

Graduation Credit Requirements
Subject Area	Minimum Number of Credits
Core English	8
Social Studies	8
Math	6
Science	6
Languages Other Than English (LOTE)*	2
Arts	2
Physical Education	4
Health	1
Electives	7
Total	44

Graduation Exam Requirement
1 English Language Arts Regents
1 Social Studies Regents
1 Math Regents
1 Science Regents
+ 1 Option Career Development and Occupational Studies Credential (CDOS)

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Recommended Credit Requirement Breakdown for Off- Site Courses
Subject Area	Credits Required	Suggested Credits for Off-Site Experience		NYSED Standard Alignment
Core English	8	2	Recommended for ELA 7 and 8 (sequences after the ELA regents exam)	New Generation ELA
Social Studies	8	1	Recommended for Economic, Participation in Government or any non-regents based courses.	Grades 9-12 Social Studies
Math	6	2	Recommended for Statistics or any non-regents based courses.	Next Generation Mathematics
Science	6	4	Recommended for any non-regents based courses.	New Generation Science
Languages Other Than English (LOTE)*	2	2*	*Recommended with strong assessment from the Principal of standard alignment and course outcomes.	LOTE Learning Standards
Arts	2	2		Standards for the Arts
Physical Education	4	4	Students must have PE for at least 180 minutes per week for 7 semesters, or 90 minutes per week for 8 semesters. NYSED recommended schools to use the PECAT to assess PE experiences.	Physical Education Standards
Health	1	0		Health Standards
Electives	7	7
Total	44	~22-24

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Consciously Building STARS Codes

Assigning credits that best match the experience.
Consciously build your master schedule and program students that benefit their credit needs.

Type of Credit	Suggested Codes and Logistics
Elective Credit	Counted toward the 7 elective credits needed for graduation Option: Principals can choose to schedule all students participating in off-site experiences under elective credit
Subject Specific Credit	Reference the WBL STARS Directory for subject specific course codes Counted toward the ELA, Science, Math, Social Studies and PE credits The course must be aligned to the NYSED learning standards of the credit discipline The teacher assigned to this course must be certified in the discipline (note: certified teachers can teach 1-3 courses [10 hours/week] outside their discipline)
Interdisciplinary	Combines learning standards from two different subject areas in a single course The teacher assigned to this course must be certified in one of the disciplines.

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Course Content Documentation

NYCDOE Academic Policy: Aligns to New York State Department of Education (NYSED) commencement-level learning standards, as documented by the course syllabus

Course Content Documentation:

Course Syllabus Template - Overview of the general information of the course, general alignment to the NYSED Learning Standards, attendance and grading policy. (Sample Syllabus)

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Subject Certified Teacher of Record

NYCDOE Academic Policy:

Be taught or overseen by a NYCDOE subject-certified teacher
Includes a classroom/seminar/workshop component in addition to learning time spent off-site, together totaling at least 180 minutes per week throughout the school year, or the equivalent of 54 hours per semester and 45 hours during the summer

Selecting a certified teacher:

The certification of the teacher must match the discipline of the credit assigned to this off-site experience.

NYCDOE subject-certified teachers are allowed to teach/oversee 1-2 classes outside of their certification.
For interdisciplinary courses, the teacher who teaches/oversees the experiences must be certified in one out of the two disciplines.

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Information needed for STARS

STARS is the credit and student information tracking software used by NYCDOE:

All courses offered for credit must be scheduled in STARS according to the NYCDOE standardized course code directory.
Sample STARS Course Codes Catalog

Course Title	Career Exploration Seminar
STARS Code
School Year and Semester	2021-22
Credit	1 Credit per 54 hours
Grading	Pass / Fail
NYSED Learning Standard Alignment
School Subject Certified Teacher:
Course Schedule:	Schedule course for Period 0 or Period 12

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High School Accreditation Steps

Review Step 1:

Establish the type of credit
Subject Certification of the Teacher of Record
Course Content Documentation

Course syllabus

Create a Course Code on STARS prior to the start of semester.

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In your groups...

Think back to your first job that you shared...how would you align that opportunity to academic credit?

What type of credit would have received?
What would be the certification of the teacher who oversees the experience?

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The role of the teacher of record

Step 2: A NYCDOE subject-certified teacher must conduct check-ins with student during the course of the offsite course

Lead a in-school classroom/seminar/workshop component to check-in with the students on their progress towards program milestones.
Collect attendance information

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In-School Workshop/Seminar/Check-ins

Regular Check-ins with Students	VS	In-School Seminar with Curriculum

Off-Site experience where there is not a existing partnership between the provider and school. The school does not have access to attendance data and student work (assignments, assessments, projects, etc…)

The certified teacher leads an in school seminar (1-2 days/week) to build connection between the off-site experience and the course discipline.
During the sessions, student should produce work that displays mastery in the course.

Off-Site experiences where off-site providers are sharing attendance data and student work (assignments, assessments, projects, etc…)

The certified teacher check-ins with students to discuss their participation, interests and connections to in-school learning.
Keep records of these check-ins - attendance and notes in a google doc/spreadsheet.

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Key Takeaways: Can students earn credit for off-site learning?

The high school credit is processed and delivered to the students by their school.

The course must be aligned to NYSED commencement level learning standards.
The course must be coded into STARS.
A subject certified teacher must be assigned to the course.
Students must produce work (assessments, attendance, assignments, projects, etc...) to display mastery in the course.

**Students can receive credit and get paid for the same experience**

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Structured In-School Seminars

Include 1-2 times a week in-school workshop where students are reflecting on their work experiences. (This can be done in person or virtually)
Two sets of lesson plans that schools can use during these sessions:

Summer: 12 lessons (45 mins each)
School year: 35 lessons (45 mins each) - 2 days/week if scheduled for one semester or 1 day/week if scheduled for both semesters

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Sample Student Schedules

Elective Credit and Interdisciplinary (annual or semester)

Subject Specific Credit (annual course)

Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
In-School Seminar 2pm - 2:45pm	Students are participating in their off-site experiences
At off-site experiences	In-School Seminar 2pm - 2:45pm	At off-site experiences	In-School Seminar 2pm - 2:45pm	At off-site experiences

Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
In-School Seminar: Students in off-site experience aligned to ELA standards	In-School Seminar: Students in off-site experience aligned to NGSS standards (life or physical)	In-School Seminar: Students in off-site experience aligned to Math standards	In-School Seminar: Students in off-site experience aligned to Social Studies standards	In-School Seminar: Students in off-site experience aligned to PE standards

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Collecting Attendance

Connected to the Off-Site Provider (CareerReady SYEP, LTW, school partnered internships, etc...)	Reach out to the provider and request attendance information Collect attendance using a timesheet that students have signed by the provider (similar to community service)
Not Connected to the Off-Site Provider (SYEP Lottery, out of school jobs and internships, etc...)	Collect attendance using a timesheet that students have signed by the provider (similar to community service)

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High School Accreditation Steps

Step 1: Building the course
Step 2: A NYCDOE subject-certified teacher must conduct check-ins with students throughout the offsite course
Step 3: Teacher of record will review assignments and projects, and input final grades on STARS at the end of the semester.

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In your groups...

Share different ways that you have provided credit for off-site experiences? Do you recognize any similarities between your previous approaches and what was shared in this presentation?

What type of infrastructure did you use to implement?

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What infrastructure is needed to implement this?

Dedicate staff who can lead this:

Build a repository of the students who are participating in off-site experiences.
Connect off-site experiences to academic disciplines and learning standards.
School programmer - program off-site courses into STARS and assign the selected certified teacher to the course.
Teaching the in-school seminar or conducting check-ins with students.

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Allocating Staff Time

Options	Avg. Cost	Responsibilities
Certified Staff Time: Dedicate 10-30% of existing staff’s time to oversee off-site credit Per session	~ 10-30% of each teacher’s time	Collaborate with guidance counselors to learn about off-site experiences that students are participating in. Teach/oversee off-site credit bearing courses.
	~ rates negotiated
Hire Postsecondary Readiness Coordinator (uncertified)	~ Avg. salary costs similar to a Parent Coordinator + teacher time	Meet with students to learn about off-site experiences that students are participating in. Work in collaboration with a certified teacher to teach/oversee these off-site credit bearing courses.
Dedicate a full time teacher to serve as a Postsecondary Readiness Coordinator	~ $80,000 - $100,000+	Meet with students to learn about off-site experiences that students are participating in. Teach/oversee off-site credit bearing courses.

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Step back: Allocating Teacher Time

Certified Staff Time	Hire Postsecondary Readiness Coordinator (uncertified)	Dedicate a full time teacher to serve as a Postsecondary Readiness Coordinator
Pros and Cons Provide a diverse types of credits for different off-site experiences. Teachers must consistently commit to this work. Requires collaboration - having a group of teachers lead this can become messy. Requires minimal training and no hiring process.	Pros and Cons Dedicated person to oversee off-site experiences and connect with students. Uncertified - still requires teacher time. Requires hiring and onboarding	Pros and Cons Dedicated person to oversee off-site experiences and connect with students. Limited to the types of credits that can be provided Can require hiring and onboarding

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Questions?

Please reach out with any questions, we are here to support!

Monia Salam - msalam@expandedschools.org

Candace Brazier-Thurman - cthurman@expandedschools.org

Follow-up Email

Google Drive Link: Slides, sample syllabus, curriculum and WBL STARS catalog
Link to sign up for office hours

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