ANSWER:

The Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) International Admissions and Enrollment (IAE) unit credit evaluation work is aligned to the Metropolitan Area Foreign Student Advisors (MAFSA) guidelines. MAFSA is an organization that consists of school professionals working
in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and surrounding districts in Maryland and Virginia.  Most members of MAFSA are counselors, English for Speakers of Other Languages teachers, supervisors, or administrators charged with the proper grade placement and the evaluation
of records for international or English Language Learner students in the elementary and secondary public schools in the United States.

We use the the MAFSA Comparison Charts of Primary and Secondary Foreign School Systems and National Grading Scales © to complete evaluations for MCPS international students. The Charts are the result of a cooperative effort by international student services representatives from the metropolitan District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia area public school systems. In consultation with area school districts, we are using the same approach as they are in terms of transcripts for students. 

The Charts provide general guidelines for the evaluation of foreign transcripts (grading scales) and for the placement of students into the appropriate grade level in the United States. The Charts are copyrighted and available only to MAFSA members as they work to correctly place students into primary and secondary school and to evaluate transcripts from secondary schools outside the United States.

IAE completes credit evaluations within two weeks (or less) of a student clearing through the unit as long as all original/official transcripts are provided at the initial intake meeting.  As we are unable to proceed with the evaluation until all official and original transcripts are submitted, delays occur when families are unable to provide all documents.  Official transcripts for high school age students, Grades 10, 11, and 12 particularly, are required for credit evaluation, in accordance with MCPS policy and aligned with MAFSA guidelines. This requirement is consistent across Maryland school districts. Sometimes official translations are also required, and this can take longer for families to provide. We try to assist the families by accepting a scanned copy of the transcripts sent directly by the school. These requirements are expressly communicated to families when they make an enrollment appointment.