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Credit by Exam

Forney ISD Exam for Acceleration and Credit-by-Exam

Forney Independent School District has grade acceleration testing during district acceleration windows, as provided by 19 TAC 74.24 and Texas Education Code 28.032. The purpose of credit by exam is to allow a student to accelerate in grades K-8 or earn course credit without prior instruction in grades 6-12 free of charge.  FISD utilizes Texas Tech University and Univerity of Texas K-12 for tests. Students may also test to recover credit for a particular course or grade with prior formal instruction for the cost of each exam to be incurred by the parent.  

Credit by Exam (CBE) and Exam for Acceleration (EA) are terms that are occasionally used interchangeably, but they are not utilized for the same purpose. 

Credit by Exam (CBE) is used to earn credit for a (HS) course, when a student has had PRIOR instruction, and under the following conditions:

  • The student is enrolling in the District from a non-accredited school program
  • The student has failed a subject or course
  • The student has earned a passing grade in a subject or course, but has failed to earn credit because of excessive absences 

The student must score a 70% or higher on a CBE to earn credit. For students currently enrolled in FISD, the first condition does not apply. Failure to earn a score of 70% or better will require the student to complete the course for which they need credit. 

Exams for Acceleration (EA) provide an opportunity to earn grade level (intention to “skip” a grade level) OR individual course credit in which no prior formal instruction has been completed. The EA is designed for a very small percentage of learners who have both the academic and emotional need to advance a course. EA is not designed for grade level recovery when a student is retained in a previous grade level. Students must demonstrate mastery of 80% or higher on an EA to have the opportunity to move on to the next exam in the testing sequence (second semester for course credit, or the next core content exam) before the student earns credit or is accelerated a grade level. 

The only students that should take an exam for acceleration are those who display an extremely advanced level of understanding of the learning objectives assessed on the EA which will be the grade level or course above the grade level or course in which your student is currently enrolled.

  • Ex. 1:  Levi is a 5th grade student who wants to skip grade 6 and accelerate to 7th in the upcoming school year. He will need to meet minimum MAP/STAAR requirements before the first exam is ordered (science), and once scores are returned, the next test will be ordered. If Levi scores an 80% or higher on all 6th grade core content tests (science, math, language arts, and social studies) he will be advanced to 7th grade at the beginning of the new school year. 
  • Ex. 2: Sam wants to earn credit for World Geography. After a discussion with his counselor, the first semester exam will be ordered. If Sam scores an 80% or higher on this exam, then the second semester exam will be ordered. Earning an 80% or higher on both exams will earn Sam credit for World Geography and he will be accelerated into the next social studies course in the sequence at the beginning of the new school year. 

 All requests for CBE or EA applications must be made through your campus counselor and are due by 4:15pm on the deadline.