The companies/organizations in this category sell courses “for college credit” that have been evaluated by the American Council on Education (ACE). ACE credit is not as transferable as credit earned directly through a college, but can be very transferable when used with the intention of transferring to one of the partner colleges. ACE is a third party credit evaluator that evaluates all types of learning that happens outside of a college. This kind of college credit is guaranteed to transfer into partner colleges (varies by provider) but transfers poorly outside of partnerships.
Using ACE credit requires creating an account with another third party, Credly to “hold” your teen’s credit until they’re ready to use it. HS4CC List of ACE Partners
Assessment and LEearning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn’t know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn. As a student works through a course, ALEKS periodically reassesses the student to ensure that topics learned are also retained. ALEKS courses are very complete in their topic coverage and ALEKS avoids multiple-choice questions. A student who shows a high level of mastery of an ALEKS course will be successful in the actual course she is taking.
ALEKS also provides the advantages of one-on-one instruction, 24/7, from virtually any Web-based computer for a fraction of the cost of a human tutor.
ALEKS costs $20 per month.
Students can receive up to three semester hours of college credit per ACE (American Council on Education) credit-recommended course. To receive credit, a student must assess at 70% or greater on the course material for an ACE credit-recommended ALEKS course. The student must open an account with a third party, Credly, to hold their credits until they are ready to use them.
- College Algebra
- Trigonometry
- College Algebra with Trigonometry
- PreCalculus
- Introduction to Statistics
- Business Statistics
- Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
*Students cannot receive ACE credit for both of the courses in the following combinations:
- College Algebra and College Algebra with Trigonometry
- College Algebra and PreCalculus
- College Algebra with Trigonometry and Trigonometry
- Trigonometry and PreCalculus
- College Algebra with Trigonometry and PreCalculus
- Introduction to Statistics and Business Statistics
- Introduction to Statistics and Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
- Business Statistics and Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
HS4CC Recommended Bundles
College Algebra + Trigonometry + Any 1 Statistics Course
Note: Many ALEKS courses are not for college credit, use their “course products” tab and look for those marked “ACE Credit Courses.”
To squeeze the MOST bang for your buck out of ALEKS, a good strategy is to use your favorite homeschool math curriculum, and when you’re confident that your student knows it, simply register for ALEKS at that time. They’ll progress through the course quickly (target: under 1 month) for only $20.
How it works
When you first enroll, you’ll take an initial assessment. It isn’t proctored or timed, but that one doesn’t count for credit.
You’ll then begin working lessons in the course in learning mode – you can bounce around anywhere you like, they keep track of it in your “pie chart” and sections open/close as you learn.
Once you pass the assessment with 70% or better, you have to take an additional special “ACE Knowledge Check” which is timed (3 hours) and requires a special lockdown browser (respondus). The ACE knowledge check isn’t proctored, but the lockdown browser doesn’t allow you to have other apps running or switch windows during the test. Once you can get a 70% or better on the ACE knowledge check, you can add the course to your Credly account. If you don’t pass, it sends you back to learning mode and you repeat the process until you can pass.