Assessment and Grading
Assessment and Grading:
Your grade in this class will be based on the level of proficiency that you demonstrate on summative assessments throughout the year. Your performance on formative assessments will be recorded in PowerSchool but will not be averaged into your final grade. All traditional categories (assignments, quizzes, tests, participation, etc.) will still be utilized. Assessments under any of these categories may be either formative or summative.
Reassessment:
If you do not demonstrate proficiency on a summative assessment, you may see me to discuss your options in regards to starting the learning process over for the learning targets in that assessment. We will devise an action plan consisting of self reflection on your preparation and habits of learning (and a behavior plan if necessary) as well as various tasks and further practice work designed to prepare you for reassessment. The action plan that we devise will be drawn up in a contract that will be signed by you, your parent or guardian, and myself. You will need to complete all the activities described in the contract before earning the opportunity for a reassessment of your proficiency.
Reassessment Criteria:
In order to maintain rigor in the new proficiency based grading system, the following criteria must be met (based on my professional opinion) before a reassessment will be granted:
A student must make a genuine effort at achieving proficiency on the first attempt. I will not allow anyone to use the opportunity for reassessment as an excuse to forego preparation and effort on any initial summative assessment.
Reassessment will not be allowed to serve as an excuse to ignore deadlines or serve as an advance preview of the test.
Certain assessments can be difficult or impossible to recreate while maintaining the integrity of the assessment. Therefore, retakes will take the form of alternative assessments (for example, an oral quiz or a writing assessment may be used to evaluate your proficiency, even though the original assessment was in multiple choice format)
The date and time of the reassessment will be scheduled at my discretion.
A student must show evidence of corrective actions between the initial attempt and the reassessment (to include completion of all incomplete and missing formative assessments related to the assessment in addition to any new learning tasks designed to improve your performance). These actions and tasks will be outlined in the contract.
Students who meet the reassessment criteria must schedule and complete the reassessment process within 2 weeks of the initial assessment date and within the same marking period (unless due to an excused absence from school).
A variety of methods will be used to determine to what extent you have achieved the objectives and targeted standards of the course. Each marking period your grade will be based on the number of points that you have earned on summative assessments out of the possible points for that marking period. For example, if you earn 850 points out of a possible 1000 then you will have earned 85% or a “B” for that marking period. The total number of points per marking period will vary, but your grade will always be the percentage that you earned of the total points that were possible on summative assessments in that marking period.
Assignments = 10 points each
Binder = 100 possible points per marking period
Quizzes = 50 points each
Essays = 50 points each
Tests = 100 points each
Papers/projects = 100 possible points per marking period
Class participation = 25 possible points per week
(*Note: excessive, unexcused absences and/or consistently being late to class will negatively affect the participation portion of your grade -- if you are not in class you can’t participate! Being tardy to, or unprepared for, class will result in points being deducted from your class participation grade. In addition, consistent discipline problems will result in points being deducted from your class participation grade).
Binder:
It is important that you have a notebook and binder for class. A lot of the information we discuss in class is not found in the textbook. Therefore, in order to be successful, you will need to keep a binder containing accurate notes from lectures and class discussions and all handouts distributed in class in order to be completely prepared for tests and quizzes.
Your binder will be graded once each marking period. The binder has 5 parts, each of which is graded (I will give you a scoring guide):
1) Daily notes and vocabulary from lectures and class discussions (must be dated)
2) A labeled section for your journal of class openers and free-writes (must be dated)
3) A labeled section for handouts
4) A labeled section for quizzes
5) A labeled section for assignments
You should expect either a test or a quiz every week (if there will not be one I will let you know). I will always inform you of the material that you will be expected to know so that you can study effectively. There will also be weekly readings and assignments and at least one major paper/presentation or project each marking period.
Online Material:
I maintain two blogs that will be utilized throughout the year. One is a homework blog where you can discuss assignments, and any questions or thoughts you have concerning them, with me and your classmates. The other is a blog where we discuss various topics related to the human condition. In addition, I also maintain a Google Classroom for each of my classes. You will be given the code to join the appropriate Google Classroom on the first day of class. If an assignment involves one of the blogs, a link will be posted in Google Classroom. The blogs can also be accessed through links on the school website (www.fhuhs.org) or by going directly to the following web addresses: