All West Virginia high schools are now able to submit academic transcripts digitally through a new e-transcript provider, Parchment. Through the “West Virginia eTranscript” initiative, all 122 public high schools have access to a secure and trusted platform to submit academic transcripts and other credentials electronically to higher education institutions and other organizations, including the NCAA and scholarship agencies.
“I was accustomed to processing transcripts manually,” said Karla Mace, registrar at Parkersburg High School in Wood County. [With Parchment] I am now able to process 25 transcripts in a minute versus the hours it would take me to pull files, copy transcripts and address the envelopes.”
Prior to engaging Parchment, high school transcripts in West Virginia were printed and processed manually and mailed primarily through the USPS, providing minimal insight to students into the request, fulfillment and delivery process. Digitizing credentials is 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.
Further emphasizing college readiness, the West Virginia Department of Education has committed to providing all high school students with two free transcripts to send to any institution within the Parchment network. Today, more than 82,000 students are enrolled in high school in West Virginia and can benefit from this initiative.
“Using Parchment not only provides our students with increased access and efficiencies, but also enables schools to directly connect Parchment with the electronic student information system which eliminates so much manual work and allows our counselors to reinvest their time in other student needs,” said Dr. Barbara Brady, school counseling coordinator for the Office of Student and School Supports with the West Virginia Department of Education. “Historically, it would take schools hours to process transcripts and days for them to be sent via mail. With Parchment, it’s only a matter of minutes.”
Parchment emphasizes the security and accuracy of their system, noting that 80 percent of all university admissions offices in the U.S. rely on Parchment for the protected delivery of applicant credential.
The admissions office at West Virginia University has been working with Parchment since April 2012 and has received more than 83,000 academic credentials and supporting documents via Parchment from students applying to the university. Processing incoming credentials electronically allows admissions offices to provide more timely admissions and scholarship decisions to applicants. Today, more than 90 percent of public higher education institutions in West Virginia are part of Parchment’s network to receive digital credentials.