Before reading this material, it would be helpful for you
to first read the State of NC Private School Requirements.

Are there any NC non-public school laws which address the recognition by a NC non-public school chief administrator of student academic credits earned while enrolled in a previously attended non-public or public school?  No.  Each NC non-public school establishes its own criteria for the acceptance of credit earned at schools previously attended.

Are there any NC non-public school laws which address the recognition of credit earned while attending a home school?  No.  NC home school law requires each home school to make and maintain only three types of student records:  Attendance, immunization and annually required nationally standardized achievement test.  It would be wise for the conventional non-public school to always require the parent to provide:  Written evidence that the home school was registered with DNPE and satisfying NC's home school laws as well as provide copies of the three types of legally required student records.  The school should also require from the parent a list of textbooks used along with evidence that the material was adequately covered.  If the student is seeking to enter at grade 9 (or lower), the school might conduct an oral assessment of the child's reading and math abilities or determine grade level assignment based on standardized test results.  If the student is transferring into grade 10 or above from a home school, the school might review the student's last nationally standardized achievement test results.  If the test was not administered or scored by the parent, a relative or someone who lives with the student, the school might consider assigning at least a letter subject grade (and one unit high school credit) for each of the four major areas of the test -- provided the student scored at or above the national norm for each of the major subject areas tested.  Examples could include:  B in Language Arts; B in Math; B in Social Studies; B in Science, etc.  The parent would be well-advised to provide to the conventional non-public school as much paper evidence as the school will request and keep in mind that it will usually ask for more than the home school law requires.

Is there a credit recognition requirement for transferring a non-public school student back into the Public Schools of NC?  The principal of each NC public school determines whether transfer credit will be recognized by his/her school from the previous school be it a conventional non-public, a home or another public school.  Click on G.S. 115C-288(a) which addresses the powers and duties of the NC public school principal.

What happens if a non-public school student attempts to enroll in a local public school without having taken the previous school year's Public Schools of NC End-of-Grade or End-of-Course tests?  Click on G.S. 115C-288(a).  Note carefully the second paragraph of that section which reads:  "A principal shall not require additional testing of a student entering a public school from a school governed under Article 39 of this Chapter if test scores from a nationally standardized test or nationally standardized equivalent measure that are adequate to determine the appropriate placement of the child are available."  This sentence was added in recent years by the NC General Assembly in response to an organized effort by the NC non-public school community requesting its addition to help prevent double-testing of former non-public school students when entering the Public Schools of NC.  It is applicable only when the student was administered such a test in the latter portion of his/her final year of non-public school attendance.  On occasion, a public school principal may honestly claim that the test scores are simply not adequate to determine the appropriate grade placement of the student.  However, it was clearly the legislative intent of the NC General Assembly that such occurrences be rare.  Non-public schools may consider appealing any apparent abuse of the NC General Assembly's legislative intent on this issue to the local public school superintendent or to locally elected Board of Education members.

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