Credit by Exam

Assessments will be administered on the student’s home campus once they arrive in the district.

Generally, children are best placed at a grade level with students of their own age. However, some students of kindergarten age may already have mastered the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for kindergarten and, for this reason, are ready to go on to first grade. Acceleration by Examination for kindergarten is to allow students to advance to first grade who are not yet six years of age but are academically ready to do so. Typically, these are students who have been enrolled in a private kindergarten (accredited or non-accredited) or a homeschool arrangement.

Kindergarten acceleration opportunities will be offered only once per year. Comal ISD does not accept another district’s kindergarten acceleration testing. A student who enrolls in Comal ISD must meet Comal ISD standards if deadlines have not passed.

A student in kindergarten may be accelerated to first grade if he or she meets ALL of the following requirements in this order:

1. The student is five (5) years of age on September 1 of the school year in which tested;
2. The student is six years old on or before December 31 of the school year in which tested;
3. The student is enrolled in kindergarten in the District, and the student has a 6-digit local ID number;
4. The student’s parent or guardian initiates the request in writing within the first two weeks of school or before school starts;
5. The parent/guardian timely files the request with the campus principal and attends a conference to discuss the request;
6. The student scores at or above the kindergarten end-of-year expectations on the District’s early reading assessment, which is administered by campus personnel (for 23-24 the EOY RIT score expectation is 153); and
7. The student scores at least 80 on each of the following kindergarten content area assessments (language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) through Credit by Exam. Comal ISD will purchase and administer the exams to the student.

The principal will make the recommendation for acceleration and the decision made will be final. 

Credit by Exam Testing Dates/Deadlines 2023-2024 School Year

*ES/MS/HS Summer testing is held at one hill country campus and one in-town campus. The testing will be for two days. ES/MS testing during the school year is held at the student’s home campus.                                                                                                   

Middle School Math Advancement

1. Middle School students in grades 6-8 enrolling in Comal ISD for the first time are eligible to request Credit by Exam for Acceleration. Students must be enrolling from an accredited school. Students must have completed the enrollment process and have a Local ID assigned to them before assessments can be ordered.  
2. Elementary students in grades 1-5 enrolling in Comal ISD for the first time are eligible to request Credit by Exam for Acceleration. Students must be enrolling from an accredited school. Students must have completed the enrollment process and have a Local ID assigned to them before assessments can be ordered.   
3. The application deadline for New Enrollees has closed.