Schools will try electronic transcripts

By Annie McCallum

Published: July 24, 2008

Amherst County schools will join eight other Virginia school divisions in a pilot program aimed at making the college application process a little easier.

The program, coordinated through state education department, will enable high school transcripts to be sent electronically. Local education officials said it will streamline the application process.

“Sending electronically is, of course, much quicker than, of course, sending it snail-mail,” said Mary Mays, Amherst County Schools assessment coordinator.

Mays said the process will simplify things for guidance officials, who have to prepare and send transcripts by hand. Instead of assembling packets of information for each college, they can simply use clicks of a mouse.

“The time factor is very important,” Mays said.

With students applying to several colleges, it can be time consuming for officials to compile and send off information.

During the pilot program, which starts in the fall, transcripts can be sent electronically to George Mason and James Madison universities.

The program was developed through a $6.1 million grant from the U.S. Education Department. The state education department solicited schools interested in participating in the pilot. Amherst volunteered.

Locally, Nelson and Bedford counties will also participate.

Mark Blankenship, Bedford County schools specialist for assessment and counseling, said the state education department asked for volunteers with the hope that sending electronic transcripts can be done at more Virginia schools. In Bedford, the program is only taking place at Jefferson Forest High School.

“It gets costly, all the copying and all the printing we have to do,” Blankenship said, adding the college application process is changing and the pilot is a reflection of that.

“It has changed so much in the last five years. I think most kids are applying now online,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to send things electronically, I think, and colleges want it that way.”

Blankenship said while cost savings and ease are certainly benefits, the top priorities are accuracy and confidentiality. So far, the system used to transmit transcripts will fit the bill.

Charles Pyle, Virginia education department spokesman, said the software being used to send transcripts is also used in other capacities statewide and is secure. He said while the program will simplify things for school staff, it ultimately benefits students. Because information is sent quickly and electronically, Pyle said, it eliminates the possibility of human error.

When the pilot program rolls out this fall, Pyle said it will only allow about 50 transcripts per division to be sent electronically. He said his department also hopes to extend the pilot to up to 30 school divisions in the future.

Other divisions participating in the pilot are Prince William, Botetourt, Highland, Poquoson, Rockbridge and Louisa counties.