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Credit by Examination (CBE)
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Katy ISD offers Credit by Examination for acceleration at every grade level and subject area offered in accordance with the Texas State Board of Education rules. A student is allowed to advance one grade level or one course per subject per academic year. Katy ISD offers four Credit by Examination testing windows throughout the year.
For more information about Credit by Examination (CBE), please contact your campus counselor.
Please be advised that the student must currently be a student with Katy ISD to be registered for CBE exams.
Answers to the most frequently asked questions can be found on the FAQ page.
Kindergarten
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To be considered for placement into first grade through Credit by Exam, the following criteria should be met.
- Student is at least 5 years of age by September 1st.
- Parent meets with a counselor to receive an application.
- Parent submits application to campus by deadline.
- Student attains at least a score of 80 in all four (Language Arts, Social Science, Math and Science) Kindergarten Credit by Exams.
Parents should also be aware:
- There is only one window for testing per calendar year with no exceptions to ordering deadlines.
- There is no retest.
- Results and placements are final.
- Parents will be notified of which tests are taken, who the vendor is and the website link, if appropriate, to download study guides, allowable materials for use on the test as well as test location, date and time.
1-12
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- Four windows are offered each year with no exceptions to ordering deadlines.
- No exams purchased individually through UT are accepted. They must be ordered through an institutional order by applying by published deadlines and then being authorized by the student's zoned campus.
- There is no fee for credit by Exam without prior instruction.
- There is a $75 per test fee for credit by exam with prior instruction.
- Only CBE's administered by Katy ISD within the Katy ISD test windows will be accepted.
- Parents meet with a counselor to receive an application.
- December and early spring results will be considered and applied to the following school year.
- Only one grade level or course per subject may be advanced per year on nonadaptive tests.
- The foreign language adaptive test may attain level II credit in addition if proficiency results in an A grade.
- A single retest attempt is available for scores below 80. Because of tight deadlines, retests from scores on June exams are only available for 78 or 79.
- 80% or above must be attained for courses or grade levels without prior instruction; 70% for credit recovery. Credit also is not weighted and has not been NCAA approved.
- Students must take each pre-requisite CBE to receive credit. (No Credit Validation)
- Passing scores will go on the student transcript.
- Students shall be accelerated in grade levels(K-8)/subjects (high school credit only) if scores are 80% or above.
- Results must be received by the first day of school to be considered for acceleration.
Parents should also be aware:
- Results and placements are final.
- Parents will be notified of which tests are taken, who the vendor is and the website link, if appropriate, to download study guides, allowable materials for use on the test as well as test location, date and time.
- Summer administrations have tight deadlines and movement from the June window to the July window will not be able to happen after the July order deadline.
Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd Grade Assessments
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Reading and transcribing of the assessments at the Kindergarten, first and second grade are allowable by the University of Texas High School at the discretion of districts. It is Katy ISD's procedure to read parts or the whole of an exam at the student's request during testing and as allowable by the proctor manual established by the University of Texas High school. At all other grade levels, the exam is read and answered independently by the student unless an approved testing accommodation has been documented through the appropriate committee and submitted for approval at the time of order.
Jr. High Math Advancement
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Foreign Language
Students in grades 8-12 may attempt to earn credit for foreign languages in Arabic, ASL, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, through Avant. This exam is an adaptive test covering proficiency potentially of several levels of foreign language rather than a single course. As such, credit is granted in the following ways:
- Level 1 with a score of 80 or above as requested.
- Level 2 will be granted automatically on the request of level 1 if the student does not already have credit and earns a proficiency rating of 90 or above. Scores of 80 or above can also receive credit upon request and a signed waiver.
- Level 3 with a score of 80 or above as requested. Please be advised that this option is not weighted, and options exist to take a course on the campus.
For an explanation of how proficiency ratings are converted to a numerical grade, please see here.
Timelines for Grade Reporting
Official scores can take up to six weeks to come in and will be available within the HAC. Paper copies of the official scores will be available from the campus shortly after. Over the summer months, paper copies are held until counseling staff return to contract duty and are distributed to parents in early September.
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Please be advised that study materials from the vendors that we utilize for Credit by Exam are available at the links below. While these resources are available to give parents and students information on the content and nature of the questions that may be asked on the exam, it is not an exhaustive source. Questions of policy and procedure should also be directed to the campus counselor for clarification rather than the study guide whose intent is to help prepare students for the subject content of the exam itself.
