As some of you may remember, my children are able to benefit from the college tuition waiver by virtue of their Dad being a vet in California. You may remember I agonised 2 years ago if to take them back then to enable them to slot back in and go onto to college. We ended up staying in the UK to allow my DD to do her A-Levels and DS to do his GCSE's/BTEC.

I'm now planning our move back for later this summer to CA and wanted to ask if there are any members who have moved with a 16 year old following GCSE's and what approach the high school took to evaluating UK examination results? My DS is a B/C student and more vocational/technical than academic so I'm concerned with how he will be placed.

The high school has advised they do not use GCSE scores for placement, only for course selection. Has anyone experienced a high school evaluating GCSE's to determine how they equate to U.S. educational years and if they are in fact placed higher as UK education is normally further ahead then U.S.?

Also, has anyone used an evaluation service to equate GCSE grades and taken this to the high school or have high schools used previous UK reports and placement tests for students coming from the UK?

Any thoughts and advise would be of huge help as I'm trying to make sure I'm covering all angles and making the right decision for both my children

First I should say that I don't know the official rules, but the most likely way they will be placed in a US high school will be by age, so that they are in a cohort that works for them socially. GCSEs with any grades are likely to be more difficult than any test a 16 year old has taken here, but in all likelihood he would be placed as a Junior in high school here with two more years of study to go, due to his age. After that, the consideration is what classes they will require of him to meet the individual school's graduation requirement. It almost certainly varies from school district to school district and I'm in Chicago area so perhaps emailing a high school in the area you hope to live in would help. Large schools in states where many people come from other countries may well have their own internal systems for deciding how to award credit for previous work (each school has its own graduation requirements in addition to any classes required by the state), so an outside consultant would not be necessary or possibly even not accepted.

Large high schools teach courses at different levels, so the more academically inclined can take AP classes and "honours" classes, while others can take "regular" classes, so there is usually something for everyone. But again, email some specific schools for their policies as well as to make sure that they offer courses that are right for your son. My son's high school has a huge array of courses, from the highly academic to the very practical.

What exactly do you want?

Just to get your son placed in appropriate classes for his ability?
You mention that your son is a B/C student - more vocational than academic and you also seem to think that the UK GCSE is more advanced than what exactly?

The high school will need to see that your son has covered all the areas of study for each subject so provide them with a course curriculum for each subject and then show that he has passed his GCSE. Or he could perhaps take some placement tests, this will then determine which level he should be placed in.

At his age, he will be going into Junior year so if you want him to go to college he's going to need some AP exam passes. Concentrate on which of those he can or wants to study and then find out what else he needs to get his high school diploma. There will be other required subjects and together with his AP classes, his timetable will be full.

Your other problem is going to be GPA/RIC for college applications. Find out if the school will give weighted/unweighted points for his previous out of state studies and attempt to maximise it.

I disagree that he needs AP to go to college in the US. For an elite college yes, but if he has more vocational ambitions then probably he doesn't need more than a decent SAT or ACT score and a high school diploma with a decent GPA.

On the other hand, British universities do require that US students have AP passes (as well as good SAT and/or ACT scores) as the closes equivalent to an A level that the US has.

sure.

but if he has done GCSE in the UK, then I think AP is good progression. "ON" or "regular" level classes are probably about the same level as GCSE, just match up curricula and see.

Sorry, I have to point this out; it's 'GCSEs'.

He does not need AP to go to an American university. He can also go to Community College and then transfer to a university for the last two years - the degree will just say the name of the uni and no one will ever know about the community college. Many prestigious public universities take in loads of students that way.

Elite universities, or even very good ones, AP is effectively a pre-requisite due to the competition for first-year entry.

The United States has much broader access to university than the UK and Europe do. It's not seen as being just for elite students, but in America these days it's seen as a requirement for any job that pays above minimum wage. Americans are also very unlikely to judge a person or form a class judgment based on what university they went to, unless it's Harvard or Yale - a degree is just a "do you have one, or don't you" thing.

My point is that I think this student would probably like to be learning new stuff in the last years of high school. I'm not convinced that by doing non-AP classes that he will be progressing anywhere.

I disagree with your analysis of EU and UK education and access to university. Even if kids aren't going to university they are doing vocational courses. Of course, this is based on my knowledge of what kids the same age as my own are doing.

The student in question here will need to do his high school diploma for entry into community college. I doubt GCSE level will cut it. AP classes are dual credit for college and high school, so if he does go to a community college then he will already have some credit hours under his belt.

I disagree with this. UK universities are easily accessible and are found in pretty much every city.

With the rebranding of colleges to universities someone many wouldn't know the difference between Sheffield Hallam University and University of Sheffield.

I think Carcajou's post was a thinly veiled reference to low academic standards to gain admittance to a university in the US - UNC runs a remedial reading program for some of its students on athletic scholarships.

For those outside the US, UNC is supposedly one of the most prestigious public universities on the east coast.

I do! Sheffield Uni is the one where the buildings are dirty and look like they're from the Victorian era. The housing is also far poorer than Sheffield Hallam.

Ironic, given how good Sheffield is as a university. Though that is the trend I have found, the post '92 universities are far nicer in terms of accommodation and buildings.