ACADEMIC INFORMATION

Registration

Registration for classes takes place in the spring of the preceding academic year. Course of study booklets and registration information will be mailed home to parents. In addition, there is a meeting with parents, guidance personnel and administration to review the registration process and to answer any questions regarding appropriate course choice. Parents should also feel free to call the Guidance Counselors at any time in this process, to discuss their child’s course selection.

Course Load

Students are expected to carry a full load of classes. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors must have six (6) classes each semester, while seniors will be enrolled in a minimum of five (5) classes each semester. If your class load drops below these levels, see your Guidance Counselor immediately.

Competency Based Learning

Competency based credit credit acquisition has been mandated by the New Hampshire Department of Education. Competencies are defined as content, skills and understandings that are critically important to the students current and future academic success. In order to earn credit, students must demonstrate proficiency in all competencies with a grade of 70 and earn a grade of 70 or better to pass the course. Students who do not achieve a grade of 70 will need to remediate the competency (e.g. Academic Advisory, VLACS options, summer work) until a 70 is achieved or the student will need to repeat the course. Guidance approval is necessary to determine VLACS eligibility. Teachers articulate the course competencies in their course descriptions.

Reassessment Procedure/Plan

The goal of the reassessment plan is to provide students the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for proficiency while also ensuring that they appreciate and acquire the work habits required for success. To be clear, the spirit of the reassessment plan is not grade enhancement; reassessment is not recommended for students who have shown competency with grades of 80% or greater.

Graduation Requirements

Students need twenty-four (24) credits, with a specific distribution, in order to graduate. These requirements are outlined in the Program of Studies booklet. See your Guidance Counselor to be sure you are following the correct curriculum.

Request for Early Graduation

Request for early graduation must be made by June 1st of the student’s sophomore year. The appropriate policies and procedures may be obtained from the guidance office.

Course Changes/Withdrawal from Class

In order to make course changes and/or withdraw from a class, a student must meet with the Guidance Counselor, complete the appropriate Add / Drop Form, and collect the appropriate signatures (including that of their parent/guardian). Students are allowed to meet with guidance staff to make adjustments to adjust their schedules during the designated drop/add period usually the first full week of a semester). In order to make these changes, the student must obtain proper documentation as delineated by the drop/add form located in Guidance.

A student may not drop a course after the designated drop/add period. Under compelling circumstances, a student may appeal to the administration to be allowed to drop a course. This will only be allowed when the student is carrying courses in excess of the number required.

Established procedures will be followed, including the completion of a preliminary request form (available in Guidance) and a meeting of the student, parent(s), guidance counselor and administrator. Should the decision be made to allow the student to withdraw from the course, the student’s transcript will reflect that decision by zero credit being awarded. "WP" on the student's record will indicate that the student was passing at the time of withdrawal. "WF" will indicate that the student was failing at the time of withdrawal.

College Visitation

If a student is planning to visit a college or technical school during school time, s/he must obtain a Visitation Request and Report Form from a Guidance Counselor at least 24 hours prior to the visitation. This form must be completed, signed, and returned to the Main Office prior to the visit. Failure to comply with this process could result in an unexcused absence being assigned.

Homework

Homework is a necessary part of your educational program. In addition to scheduled class instruction, students are expected to spend the time needed to learn and achieve. Some assignments are long range in nature and require planned study time for their completion. Planned study eliminates the need to spend many hours on an assignment the night before it is due. Students should strive to complete each assignment within the time allotted by your teachers. Teachers may deduct points for lateness or incomplete work.

Audit

The opportunity to audit a course is provided for students who wish to learn a body of material in a regular classroom without the pressure of grades (and without the benefit of credit). The student attends the meetings of the class, does the work, takes the tests and quizzes, writes the papers, and participates in all of the learning activities. The course is listed on the report card and transcript of the student, but no grades are shown; instead, an indication of Audit is shown. The decision to audit a course must be made by the end of the drop/add period with permission of the instructor, guidance counselor, and administrator. The complete list of regulations regarding auditing a course is available in the guidance office.

Grading and Reporting Procedures

There will be four report cards sent home each year for students at Hopkinton Middle/High School. These reports recognize that all children are individual and progress at varying speeds. Progress reports are also sent home at mid-quarter. The dates below are tentative. Should a school day be canceled, the canceled day will be omitted and be made up at the end of the quarter. The standard odd/even day rotation will remain intact.

2018-2019 Reporting Dates*

Unified Arts For Middle School

Session I Ends: Nov. 2nd

Session II Ends: Jan. 25th

Session III Ends: April 8th

Session IV Ends: Last day of school

Grading Scale:

Each teacher has the right to establish his/her own method of grading and to determine the weight of each assignment. The teachers grading system is included in the course expectations distributed the first week of school. A student needs to become familiar with each teacher’s expectations with regard to the grading of assignments.

Academic Integrity:

Academic integrity is of the utmost importance in the Hopkinton educational school and community. Located below are definitions of terms, informational websites and school wide consequences for any violation committed. The faculty and staff are committed to teaching the principles of academic integrity and holding the educational community accountable.

Academic Dishonesty is defined as any of the following:

Cheating:

Using unauthorized notes or information on an examination; altering a graded or previously graded assignment after it has been returned, then submitting the assignment for re-grading (*assignments/papers written for a particular class may not be submitted for a different class unless permission is granted by both instructors) allowing another person to do one’s work and submitting that work under one’s own name.

Plagiarism:

Submitting material that in part or whole is not entirely one’s own work without attributing those same portions to their correct source. Students who are unsure of how to avoid plagiarizing another written work can go to http://www.plagiarism.org to further their understanding.

Fabrication:

Falsifying or inventing any information, data or citation; generating data and failing to include an accurate account of the method by which the data were gathered or collected.

Obtaining an Unfair Advantage:

1. stealing, reproducing, circulating or otherwise gaining access to examination materials prior to the time authorized by the instructor;
2. stealing, destroying, defacing or concealing library materials with the purpose of depriving others of their use;
3. unauthorized collaborating on an academic assignment;
4. retaining, possessing, using or circulating previously given examination materials, where those materials clearly indicate that they are to be returned to the instructor at the conclusion of the examination;
5. intentionally obstructing or interfering with another student’s academic work;
6. otherwise undertaking activity with the purpose of creating or obtaining an unfair academic advantage over other students’ academic work.

Aiding and Abetting Academic Dishonesty:

Providing material, information, or other assistance to another person with knowledge that such aid could be used in any of the violations stated above, or providing false information in connection with any inquiry regarding academic integrity.

Falsification of Records and Official Documents:

Altering documents affecting academic records; forging signatures of authorization or falsifying information on an official academic document, grade report, letter of permission, petition, drop/add form, ID card, or any other official school document.

Unauthorized Access to computerized academic or administrative records or systems:

modifying computer programs or systems, releasing or dispensing information gained via unauthorized access.

Violations:

High School:

First Offense – Students will meet with administration. Students will be allowed to receive 50% of made up material to replace a grade of a zero. Teacher calls home.

Second Offense – Students will meet with administration and will be suspended from school. Students will receive a zero for the assignment.

Middle School:

First Offense – Students will meet with administration and review the Academic Dishonesty Policy. Students will be allowed to receive 50% of made up material to replace a grade of a zero. Teacher calls home.

Second Offense – Students will meet with administration and will a Saturday Education. Students will receive a zero for the assignment.

Third Offense – Students will meet will administration and be suspended from school. Students will receive an zero on for the assignment.

Honors Courses

Honors sections establish and maintain high academic standards requiring a higher quality of work from students, as well as an increased workload. Students have the opportunity to be in an honors section in as many as three disciplines based on aptitude, interest, and commitment (they need not be tracked into a full slate of honors courses). Contracts for honors-level work are available in many standard college-preparatory courses as well.

For students in Grades 9 and 10, honors sections of English, Social Studies, and Science courses are offered. The following criteria must be met for admission into an honors section:

1) Students must achieve an average of 87% or above in the prerequisite course.

2) Students must apply to the appropriate teacher for admission into the honors section of a course.

The application process may include any or all of the following requirements: an interview, a writing sample, a project, or portfolio as determined by the instructor.

Honor Roll Gold/Honor Roll Silver – MS

The chart below describes the requirements for obtaining Honor Roll Gold or Honor Roll Silver in the middle school.

Recognition/Reward

At the beginning of the second, third and fourth quarters, members of the “Honor Roll Gold” or “Honor Roll Silver” list will have the opportunity to be served breakfast by faculty volunteers in the Family and Consumer Science room.

Students achieving “Honor Roll Gold” or “Honor Roll Silver” status for the first, second and third quarters will be rewarded recognized at a the end of the year middle school assembly with Hopkinton Middle School water bottle as recognition of their accomplishment.

Honor Roll/High Honor Roll --–HS

In order to be eligible for the honor roll, students must be enrolled in six classes. Seniors need to be enrolled in five classes.

If a student’s average, is 93% or above, with no grade below 85%, s/he is eligible for the "High Honor Roll." If a student’s average is between 87% and 93%, with no grade below 80%, s/he is eligible for the "Honor Roll."

National Honor Society

The John L. Babson Chapter of the National Honor Society of Hopkinton High School annually recognizes outstanding students in grades eleven and twelve who demonstrate scholarship, character, leadership, and service. A list of selection procedures and description of guidelines for membership are available in the chapter by-laws in the main office.

World Language Honor Society

Students who have completed three years of a modern language and have earned an 87 average or better in their last five quarters of language study are eligible for membership in the appropriate language society.

Mid-year and Final Exams

Written cumulative exams or alternative assessments are given in all subjects at the high school at the conclusion of each semester (January, June). Students are expected to take exams as scheduled. All make-ups require the permission of the Principal. Students are responsible for returning the texts loaned for each class. If they are damaged or lost, students must pay the cost of repair or replacement. (Students and families are encouraged to search online for an affordable replacement). Please keep in mind that textbooks are very expensive.

All financial obligations need to be fulfilled before a student can take their final or mid term exams. Students who do not fulfill their financial obligation(s) before mid term exams will be required to serve Saturday Educations until their obligation(s) are met. Students who do not fulfill their financial obligation(s) by June 1st, 2019 need to participate in Saturday Ed’s until the financial obligation(s) is/are met. Students who have unmet financial obligations will need to take the exams on the make up exam day. Students will be put on a financial obligation list for the following reasons:

1. Lost or misplaced textbooks.
2. Unpaid lunch charges.
3. Un-returned library books, magazines or materials.

Credit Recovery

Credit Recovery is a process by which a student can "recover" a credit in a failed class by successfully completing a summer school or correspondence course. The student’s guidance counselor and/or teacher must determine a student’s eligibility for credit recovery. Eligibility is determined by substituting a perspective summer school or correspondence course grade (70 if the course is pass/fail) for the lowest quarter grade. If the new average is a 60 or above a 60, the student is eligible to take a summer school or correspondence course. Taking the course is not a guarantee for credit recovery. A credit is recovered only if the final average with the achieved grade is above a 60.

Independent Study

Students who wish to study a subject that is not offered by the school may ask a member of the faculty to offer the course as an independent study. This option requires an exceptional commitment on the part of the student and the teacher. Together they develop a proposal that must be submitted to the Guidance Department and the Administration for approval. Only one independent study may be taken per semester.

Awards and Scholarships

There are a variety of awards and scholarships available to graduating seniors at Hopkinton High School. Information regarding these is available from the Guidance Office.

The Library

http://www.hopkintonschools.org/hhs/library/

The Hopkinton High School & Hopkinton Middle School Library offers students, staff, and community residents a wide range of carefully chosen and organized information resources, including books, audiobooks, magazines, videos, and internet subscriptions to encyclopedias, magazine & newspaper archives, and other useful web tools like NoodleBib (the interactive APA & MLA-style bibliography generator.)

It takes more than information to make a good project, and the library also loans production and presentation equipment, including projectors (data, video, slide, overhead), still cameras (35mm, digital), video cameras (digital, VHS-C, 8mm), tripods, analog audio equipment (tape players, tape recorders, CD/tape boomboxes), digital audio equipment (USB microphones, digital audio recorders, iPod microphones, iPod Shuffles), and TV/DVD/VCR carts. In addition, 3 of the library’s 12 computers are set up for video editing and DVD burning.

School life isn’t all about studying and class projects, though. Reading for the fun of it is high on our list. Count on the library for a large, up-to-date collection of popular fiction and graphic novels, along with lots of books and magazines on recreational topics. (How do you know we’ve got what you want? Because the Librarian buys almost everything you ask for! Please recommend titles you’d like to read on the Get This! clipboard at the front desk, or use the web form at http://www.hopkintonschools.org/hhs/library/getthis.html. Also take a look at our Isinglass Booktalk Podcasts and Check It Out!, where you can subscribe to some of Ms. Moore’s famous booktalks, or join a web conversation about the best books you’ve ever read. For more conversations about books, consider joining our book club, The Pageturners, which meets in the library during lunch, about once a month.

The library is open every school day from 7:30AM to 3:30PM, and until 4:30 once/week during the winter. There is no limit to the number of items you may borrow, as long as you make a habit of returning them on time. Most things loan for three weeks. Videos may be borrowed for 3 days . Current magazines, reference books, and reserve materials may be checked out a block at a time, or overnight. Unless someone else is waiting, all materials may be renewed until you are finished with them. And for those whose backpacks are already too heavy, we offer free photocopying from all of the library’s print resources.

Most production equipment may be taken home overnight or on weekends for work on school projects. Equipment is always due by 8:00AM on the next school day. You are responsible for the proper use and treatment of this equipment, which includes being responsible for the cost of replacement or repair of items that are lost or damaged while in your care.

Don’t miss the library, where you’ll find a welcoming, businesslike, and comfortable atmosphere, plus the tools and information you need to do well in school. It’s where to go when you need to know.

Nurse’s Office

If students feel ill, they should ask their teacher for permission to go to the Nurse’s Office. The teacher will then call the nurse to ensure she is available. Students will only be allowed to see the nurse if they have a pass from their teacher or they are visiting for a regularly scheduled appointment. Students are not to go to the nurse’s office between classes. Students must report to class first. If the nurse is not in, they are to go directly to the main office. Under no circumstances should they remain in the lavatory or Nurse’s Office. If students are too ill to remain at school, parents/guardians will be notified and transportation home will be arranged. Students must sign out in the main office upon leaving.

Finally, the Nurse’s Office is NOT a place to be used to avoid classes, nor is it a social gathering place. Students are NOT allowed to loiter in this location. Between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM daily, the nurse's office will be closed except for emergencies.

Students receiving medications at school must have the medication brought to school by a parent, in a properly labeled container. The label must state the following: student’s name, medication, dosage, method of administration, time to be given, and doctor’s name with a phone number.