The data standard is missing elements for “course validation”

Course Validation occurs in two dimensions:  one for high school graduation requirements and one for college admissions eligibility requirements.  

For both dimensions, the principle is that a higher level course will give retro-active credit for a lower-level course.  For example, if you take and pass Spanish 2, then the universities say you've met the requirement for 2 years of foreign language; however the high school may or may not give you 2 years of credit.

Course Validation can also occur within a one-year class.  For example, if you fail the first semester of Algebra 1 but pass the second semester, then both the high school and the universities probably will give you credit for one full year of algebra.  

Course validation is course specific, LEA specific and State Specific.  It's used when the LEA or the public universities in a particular state decide that a course or course sequence requires "cumulative" knowledge, so that passing a higher level course demonstrates master of the lower level course material.

Cy.Jones