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Ways to learn
Credit For Prior Learning
You can earn credit for knowledge and skills you’ve already learned outside of the classroom.
Your Real-World Skills Can Become School Credit
Credit for Prior Learning allows students to earn high school credit for knowledge and skills they already possess, acquired through experiences outside of school.
To pursue CPL, you will enroll in a specific Project offering corresponding to the course you wish to receive credit for. You will then submit work that demonstrates your understanding of the course competencies based on established rubrics. If you meet or exceed the standard for a competency, you will receive credit for that component.
For any competency you do not meet, you will only be required to complete the specific module in the course that covers that particular unmet skill, ultimately earning full credit once all competencies are met.
Turning Experience Into Credit
To give you a clearer picture of how it all works, here are a few examples of students successfully earning Credit for Prior Learning at VLACS. These scenarios show how your real-world skills can be quickly reviewed and turned into academic credit.
Art
You took an art workshop over summer break, and you want it to count as an academic credit. You enroll in a visual art Project and submit documentation and photographs of your artwork to prove your knowledge of composition and color theory.
World Language
You spent a year on exchange in Germany and became conversationally fluent. You can enroll in a German language Project and submit your German school transcripts and a video diary as evidence of your skills.
Computer Programming
You completed numerous free online courses in Python and Java and have coded your own website. You enroll in the computer science Project and submit your existing code and project documentation as evidence of your skills in logic and syntax.
