Worthington students could log in less class seat time but still receive class credit next school year under new credit flexibility options being developed by the district's Credit Flexibility Team.

Families might have to pay for those options, however.

George Joseph, executive director of administrative services, told board members at a school board meeting Monday, Feb. 22, that the district must develop a new policy for credit flexibility in response to Senate Bill 311, which requires flexibility options for school credit if students "demonstrate subject-area competency" in a subject.

The bill states students should be able to earn units of high school credit based on that demonstration "instead of or in combination with completing hours of classroom instruction."

Members of the team include Principals Ed Dunaway, Worthington Kilbourne; Jim Gaskill, Thomas Worthington; and Wayne Harvey, Linworth Alternative.

"The state of Ohio requires each district to have a policy in place for next school year," Joseph said.

When board member David Bressman asked if that meant Walkabout would take place at each high school, instead of just at Linworth, Harvey said the options would not be the same as those offered through Walkabout.

"We put seniors on a Walkabout program for the whole year and they might be on Walkabout for a semester," Harvey said. "The credit flexibility program will be on a course-by-course basis, as opposed to doing the entire semester as an educational option."

Harvey said students could conceivably earn credit by testing out of a course or showing mastery of course content by pursuing an educational option, such as a senior project, distance learning, postsecondary coursework, internship, service learning or even independent study and educational travel.

Dunaway said the issuance of the credit will be determined by teachers and administrators and the credits earned through alternative means will be reflected on students' transcripts in the same way as traditional credits.

"We are still determining how we will fund the program, because it would mean extra teacher time to listen to students' plans for alternative options and to develop a plan and perform assessments," he said.

Dunaway said the North Union school district received permission from the state to charge $80 to a student for an alternative course, which was the cost of the teacher hours to assess the credit option.

He said students on the free and reduced-price lunch program probably would get discounts on the expense of an educational option.

Gaskill said the Credit Flexibility Team will include some teachers, administrators and guidance counselors "to begin to hammer out how we can do this."

"We are determining how to develop a plan and determine the number of credits a student could receive based on what plan he comes up with and what happens if he comes up with a year's plan, but only completes half a year," he said. "We also have to come up with an appeals process."

Board President Julie Keegan said educational options are not really new in Worthington.

"We have field studies and some independent study at the high schools and Walkabout at Linworth, so there have been several ways in which Worthington schools students can earn credit," she said.

Dunaway said if a student wanted to get out of physical education, music, art or any other course, he or she would have to come up with an plan and a teacher would have to be assigned to that student to work with him and assess the plan.

"I'm concerned that the devil is in the details," Bressman said, wondering if a student could get class credit for shadowing a lawyer.

Dunaway said teachers still would have to approve any plan and that students could conceivably receive credit even for something the district does not offer, such as Russian.

Board member Charlie Wilson said he was concerned about "testing out" of courses.

"There could be a lot more to know by being in class, even if you're a good test-taker," he said.

"We want to make sure courses or educational options have rigor and relevance, because students' futures are at stake," Dunaway said. "The whole point of the program is to personalize learning for students."

Gaskill said the planning team will work on developing a vision and mission for the program, as well as goals, objectives and expectations as they design the new credit flexibility program.