How to Formally Establish a College Credits Program

How to Formally Establish a College Credits Program
at your High School/Leadership Academy
Your unique leadership program, JROTC, provides its participants a quality citizenship, character, and
leadership development experience, while fostering a spirit of service learning within American
communities. RTG & Associates, in partnership with Adams State University (ASU), is proud to support
these unique leadership experiences with college level elective credits for academic efforts both within and
outside their normal classroom.
Tuition is $60 per credit hour for all ASU academic courses associated with your special leadership program.
There are absolutely no additional fees or other financial commitments.
Instructor Preparation - To establish a ‘Leadership Academy College Credits’ program at your high school as
a JROTC Instructor, there is only one simple thing you need to do – a one-time mapping our ASU courses to
your ‘leadership academy’ (JROTC Directorate provided) curriculum. From then on, it is simply a process of
reporting students’ grades each semester, or at the end of their school year. Your current curriculum
remains intact as you have it, with no changes! Our academic language accounts for your efforts in both
the course description and general syllabus.
Mapping is accomplished by comparing the ASU college-level leadership courses listed in the left hand
column of the RTG & Associates JROTC Cadet Leadership Program (hyperlinked) page to your local program’s
curriculum and, based on your judgment, identify which semester the material required for a course is
significantly completed. Each course listed on the left side bar of the web page is linked to a course syllabus
for your convenience. The academic descriptions of each course were and are based upon Directorate
provided national standards and content. A notional mapping (based on our prior work with JROTC
Instructors) might look like this:
Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
FRESHMAN
SOPHOMORE
JUNIOR
LEAD 130 Health, Wellness, and PT
LEAD 122 Personal (HSFPP) Management
HGP 179 Citizenship
LEAD 124 Character Education
LEAD 138 Community Service Learning
LEAD 136 Basic Leadership Experience
(optional - add ID 179 College Option (1 credit))
SENIOR
LEAD 128 American Defense Policies
LEAD 132 Cultural Understanding of Leadership
Optional – team with the History Department at your High School to enable your cadets to earn an additional 3
credit hours with HIST 179 - AMERICAN HISTORY AND ITS VETERANS, 1890 THROUGH TODAY.
NOTE: Some courses have a (depending on the course) Community Service Learning Education Project of not less
than 10 hours associated with them, inspired by you or your school district. Please see course syllabi for details.
For your curriculum mapping, some courses shown above might be better placed in alternate semesters, or
other courses listed on the JROTC Cadet Leadership Program web page might fit your local curriculum
better. You, the local instructor, are the final arbiter of that mapping decision. Once the mapping is
completed, it only requires revision if your leadership (JROTC) has significant Directorate mandated
curriculum changes that do not fit the general course descriptions provided. Click here for an additional
perspective.
Course Grading - Course grades is in accordance with local standards and meet minimum Directorate and
school district guidelines. Your leadership curriculum is presumed to meet syllabus standards for mapped
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courses, and course grades are expected to match the local semester grades to which the course has been
mapped (except for HIST 179 which uses different guidelines. Read pages 5 – 7 of its syllabus).
Student Eligibility – eligibility is also determined by you based on the following:
1. High School (your cadets) students must have fulfilled minimum requirements of all Directorate
required curricula (appropriate to grade level) at their local high school, or if home schooled as appropriate
within their local program.
2. High School (your cadets) students must meet their Directorate’s program participation requirements.
3. High School (your cadets) students cannot be on any disciplinary or academic probation within either
their leadership program or high school.
Program Execution - The next step is to inform your students (your cadets) and their parent/guardians
about your academic program by briefing them and/or sending a written communication to them. It
doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s an example only of a letter used by one of your fellow instructors:
Dear Parent / or Legal Guardian,
I am writing this note to let you know that your student is eligible for college credits for participating
in the JROTC Leadership Academy program this past year. These special leadership credits are offered by
Adams State University for participants in our leadership academic program. Students on any disciplinary or
academic probation are ineligible, and they must have completed a minimum of ten hours of community
service this past year to be eligible. By receiving this notice your student qualifies for these credits.
To claim this opportunity, your student must register at http://leadershipcredit.info/jrotcleadership-credits/. They simply register for the ‘Current Semester & Year’ session [Note: session/year will
change based on when letter is sent] and we will be providing Adams State University their grades for the
following courses:
Course
Credits Title
LEAD 124
2
Character Education and Community Service
(First year, retroactive for others)
LEAD 130
2
Foundations for Health, Wellness, and Physical Fitness
(First year, retroactive for others)
HGP 179
3
Citizenship
(Second year and above)
LEAD 136
3
Basic Leadership Experiences
(Juniors and Seniors only)
HIST 179
3
American History and its Veterans 1890 through Today
(Must have completed American History, requires a 12-16 page paper)
Please note that there is a cost of $60.00 per credit hour for these college credits. The HST 179 –
AMERICAN HISTORY AND ITS VETERANS course also requires an additional student (enrollee) prepared
research paper. The student’s topic statement requires the approval of his/her American History instructor,
or one of their JROTC instructors, and can be completed over one of the coming summer, winter or spring
breaks.
Please feel free to contact us at (xxx) xxx-xxxx if you have questions.
Sincerely,
(You, the local instructor, can obviously modify this letter as fits what you have ‘mapped’ for your local program.)
Acquiring the Credits
A student notifies their leadership academy (JROTC) instructor that he/she wants to obtain college credit
for a course or courses any time after the completion of the semester in which each course is mapped.
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1. The local high school leadership (JROTC) instructor determines eligibility based on the criteria listed
above.
2. The student obtains parental/guardian approval, registers online at http://www.leadershipcredit.info/jrotcleadership-credits/, and subsequently pays the required tuition for the course(s)/credits desired.
3. The Leadership Academy (JROTC) instructor submits a signed ASU - RTG GRADE REPORT for the approved
and registered registrants to the ASU Instructor of Record listed at the bottom of the grade report by
scanned email attachment. Please include the school-year dates on the grade report. (i.e., 1 Sep – 15 May
201X)
Semester:
Registration Period:
Fall
Spring
Summer
25 July – 30 Oct
1 Nov – 30 Mar
1 April – 20 July
Academic Period:
15 Aug – 10 Dec
15 Jan – 10 May
1 June – 27 July
Grade Submission & Transcript Released
on/about:
20 December
20 May
15 August
4. Once the student has registered, paid their tuition, and the Leadership Academy (JROTC) instructor has
submitted the grade report, the participant should receive a personal ASU transcript within a couple of
weeks after official posting. Official transcripts can then be ordered to be sent to any institution or
organization upon request.
Program Credit Limits - A Leadership Academy (JROTC) registrant can select courses appropriate to any
semester he/she was in the Directorate sponsored program. There are, however, limits on the number of
semester hours a student can register for:
1. No current or former (JROTC) student can register for any ASU courses while in attendance at another
college/university, unless on a summer or semester break/vacation.
2. No high school student can register for more than 9 credits in any ASU Fall or Spring semester, or more
than 12 credits during any Summer semester (assuming also that the student is not attending college
elsewhere in that summer semester).
3. Students can always register for these credits based upon previous accomplishments in the leadership
program (JROTC) with the approval of their high school leadership academy (JROTC) instructor. If the local
student is enlisting or already in the Armed Services contact your Program Director below for special
consideration of their previous efforts in your program. Exceptions can be made for up to 18 credits in a
given semester for special cases, as long as the student is not enrolled at any other university/college.
Paying the Tuition - Finally, you can help your students seek financial support to defray the tuition costs
associated with these credits. Some school districts actually pay, using state authorized ‘Title One’ funds,
for the academic credits earned. Others seek scholarship help from PTA groups, local community and civic
organizations, local businesses, and/or sponsor fundraisers. One excellent fundraising program exists with
the College Options Foundation. A great option is having local donors give school-designated taxdeductible donations to the ASU Foundation on behalf of your students.
Help! If you or your students have issues or questions, please assist them as needed or contact us by email
or telephone.
Very Best Regards,
Gene Rice
Director, Air Force, Navy, & Marine Corps Programs
RTG & Associates, Inc.
Web Site: www.leadershipcredit.info
Office: 540-300-7407
Email: [email protected]
Harold Tucker
Director. Army Programs
RTG & Associates, Inc.
Web Site: www.leadershipcredit.info
Office: 501-859-6113
Email: [email protected]
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