Credit Through Testing
What is Credit Through Testing?
Credit Through Testing is DIFFERENT from the Seal of Biliteracy. Credit through testing allows students to earn high school credits on their transcript without being enrolled in the class. This test is NOT meant for placement into a course. Rather, it awards high school transcript credit to students, especially for languages that may not be offered at the school in some cases or who may place at a higher level but still want credit for levels 1 & 2 (common for Spanish-speaking students). The CTT exam (different than the AAPPL) requires a student to read and comprehend exam instructions and writing prompts in the first language. The student must be able to write two, well-developed essays in the exam language, each consisting of at least three cohesive paragraphs on two topics. Scoring a passing grade on this test can serve as evidence to qualify the student to be eligible for the Seal of Biliteracy upon graduation. Some students who have already taken levels 1 & 2 may opt to take this test even though they will not get credit on their transcript so that they can use the results to earn the Seal of Biliteracy award on their diploma at the conclusion of their senior year.
Who is Eligible:
Students who do not already have levels 1, 2, or 3 credits in the language of the exam on their transcript (from another country or from the U.S.).
Students who wish to earn the Seal of Biliteracy and already have credit for levels 1, 2, and 3 in the language of the exam.
Students who are sufficiently proficient to write in the exam language.
A student who does not possess this writing ability will likely have difficulty demonstrating the required writing proficiency to pass the exam.
If the exam language is Spanish and the school offers a Spanish for Fluent Speakers course, this may be the best venue for the Spanish-speaking student to achieve higher levels of proficiency in his/her first language.
One component of the exam is for the student to read and comprehend the instructions and writing prompts in the exam language. If the student has difficulty reading the exam language, he/she will likely be unable to understand the prompt well enough to write a cohesive response.
For the November 2022 exams, students who are literate in the following languages: American Sign Language, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese/Mandarin, Farsi, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Pashto, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
Students may register for the CTT on LARS, through the Student Opportunities portal in LCPSGO. A confirmation ticket will be sent to the student and the parent/guardian email on file.
Languages Currently Offered: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese/Mandarin, Farsi, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and Vietnamese.
When is the Test: The CTT test schedule has not been released for the 2022 - 2023 school year. However, test dates are offered at various locations within the county in the fall of each school year. To view available dates for testing, please visit the LCPS WL District Website. There is no make-up if the student misses their assigned test date. Testing is not offered in the spring.
How to Earn Credit: Students must self-register to take this test LARS by the last week of October of each year (pay close attention to weekly Community Message sent by Ms. Alzate). Upon registration, a test slip will be created for the students and emailed to them. They will need to present this ticket at their testing location along with proper identification. Students need to arrive on the date of the test at the time and location posted.
Contact Ms. Lawson (Corina.Lawson@lcps.org) with any questions if your student is enrolled at BWHS and has questions about registering for this test.
Click here for more information> LCPS Credit Through Testing Link