Georgia Students Leverage Parchment to Improve College Access
Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) March 02, 2016 -- Sometimes, the biggest rewards come from the simplest solutions. High school and college students across the state of Georgia are leveraging simple solutions every day to improve their access to their next educative journey. Parchment, a leading academic credential management service, works with more than 65 high schools and 72 college admissions offices across Georgia to create a robust network that helps to simplify the college application process for Georgia learners. By delivering and processing electronic credentials with Parchment, member schools are breaking down barriers in the college access process.
For more than a decade, Parchment has worked with high schools and colleges across the United States to aid in the application process, making academic credentials, like high school transcripts, digital, often resulting in more timely admissions decisions. Schools in Georgia have already begun to improve efficiencies, provide transparency to learners and reduce overall costs by partnering with Parchment, following the success many other states have long used to their advantage.
In 2015, Georgia high schools relied on Parchment to exchange more than 41,000 digital credentials, an increase of 48 percent over the previous year.
“Parchment has enabled our students and parents to expedite the college application process by sending transcripts electronically to almost any school across the nation,” said Tessa Barbazon, Coordinator, Office of School Counseling with Fulton County School District. “In addition, the tracking tools available to students through Parchment fill a gap in communication that can exist when less advanced services are utilized.” The Fulton County School District is comprised of 18 high schools with 94,000 students.
Digitizing academic credentials has proven to streamline operations for both the sending and receiving institutions, and enables receiving colleges and universities to use the data to optimize course placement, transfer articulation and reverse transfer. From the beginning, it took Parchment seven years to deliver one million academic credentials, and now the organization delivers one million every two months. In July 2015, Parchment facilitated its 20 millionth credential request.
“With all the stress students face applying for college, Parchment’s transcript request process makes that piece of the puzzle fast and stress-free,” said North Atlanta High School parent, Leslee Evans. “The online request took my son just a few clicks, and he was done! He also used Parchment’s college admission tools to ease his mind about the probability of being admitted to his top choice schools. He could easily see that his grades and test scores made him a viable applicant, so the wait for admissions decisions was less terrifying for him!”
Higher education institutions in Georgia are using Parchment too. College admissions offices in the Peach State have elected to receive digital transcripts through Parchment to streamline processes, often resulting in faster admissions decisions. In 2015, postsecondary institutions in Georgia leveraged Parchment to receive and process nearly 60,000 digital credentials. In the fall of 2015, the University System of Georgia announced a relationship with Parchment on a program, “Credit When It’s Due” to help award the thousands of Georgia citizens who have some college, but no degree, with an associate degree they may have unknowingly earned.
“I believe helping students succeed while they are enrolled and after graduation is what makes our community a better place to live,” said Rod Smith, Executive Director of Technology with Clayton County Schools. “Alumni are able to order online 24/7 and receive notifications throughout the entire fulfillment process.” All 13 High Schools and the District Office in Clayton County are set up with Parchment to process student requests throughout their lifetime.
Parchment is committed to operating in an environment of open standards where learners’ electronic credentials can be securely exchanged worldwide. Today, Parchment is the only organization recognized with the P20W Electronic Standards Council (PESC) Seal of Approval, for Parchment’s implementation of PESC Approved Standards. In addition, Parchment integrates with the Standardization of Postsecondary Education Data Exchange (SPEEDE) and is a signatory to G.R.E.E.N, the Global Registrar EduRecord Exchange Network™ for higher education. In May 2015, Parchment became a signatory to the Groningen Declaration, a set of principles focused on improving student data mobility.
About Parchment
Parchment is the most advanced academic credential management system available, allowing learners, academic institutions, and employers to request, verify, and share credentials in simple and secure ways. The platform has helped millions of people and thousands of schools and universities exchange more than 20 million transcripts and other credentials globally. Founded in 2003, Parchment Inc. is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, with offices in Roseville, CA, Denver, CO, Grand Rapids, MI, Toronto, ON and Washington, DC. Follow Parchment on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Tami Nealy, Parchment, http://www.parchment.com, +1 480-719-1646 Ext: 1014, [email protected]
Share this article