Grading: The school year is divided into 4 marking periods. Students will receive mid-marking period progress reports, which will serve as warning notices for students showing a need for improvement. Students and their parents/guardians can view their student's grades and overall progress via the Genesis Parent Portal at any time, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have difficulty accessing grades via Genesis, please contact the student's guidance counselor for assistance.
In an effort to better address the needs of all students, various forms of formative and summative assessments and evaluations will be used. As always, traditional criteria such as class work, homework, tests, quizzes and projects will be considered when assessing students. In addition, alternative methods such as holistic scoring and portfolio assessment will also be used to evaluate student progress.
Grade Calculations / Cálculo de las calificaciones:
Homework & Classwork (including participation, behavior, and attendance) = 20%
Formative Assessments (including quizzes & tests) = 30%
Summative Assessments (including essays & projects) = 50%
Missing and/or incomplete assignments (i.e. classwork, homework, quizzes, tests, and/or projects) can and should be made up, but a zero or partial credit only may be given.
Classwork: All assignments must be completed and submitted on time in person or via Canvas, in writing, or Gmail. Students will utilize the APA format on all formal papers; however, all other assignments must be completed following the MLA-style format, including the proper heading:
Student's Full Name
Teacher's Name
Course - Period
Date
Title of Assignment
The above heading should appear on the first page of all documents and assignments; consecutive pages should have the student’s last name and page # in the top right corner of each page.
NOTE: Points will be deducted for assignment that are submitted late or that do not have the proper heading.
Materials: In addition to physical materials (i.e. study guides, novels), students will be loaned a laptop computer with a charger. Students will also be given access to Gmail, Clever, Google Suite tools and materials as well as to online resources such as CommonLit.org, Quia, No Red Ink, NewsEla, My Shakespeare, Khan Academy, Naviance, Ever-Fi, etc. In addition, they may be given hard copies of novels. These materials must be used properly and responsibly and items must be returned in the same condition in which they were received. Lost, misused or damaged materials, including technology equipment and novels, will be assessed a fine or replacement fee which is the student’s responsibility.
Homework / tarea: Homework will be assigned according to Board of Education policy. Homework could be to study, to read, or to do written work. If there is “no homework”, students are expected to review the notes and materials covered in class that day and/or to practice the skills covered on the NJSLA/NJGPA, PSAT, and/or SAT. Sometimes homework will be a long-range project. Students will be given adequate time to complete these assignments and are encouraged to budget their time wisely. Homework is to be completed and handed in on time. Homework is looked at in order to see if it was done and where a student may be having difficulty with the material. A student will never lose credit for trying his/her best; however, s/he will lose credit for not trying, not completing an assignment and/or for copying. Any student with partially completed or no homework will receive a zero and will be given a consequence following the aforementioned rules and policies. Students should make sure that they fully understand all homework and assignments prior to leaving class and/or school that day; however, if a student encounters difficulty or has a question regarding homework or class work after school, s/he may contact the teacher via E-mail; “I did not understand what to do” or “I didn’t have my book” is not an excuse for incomplete or missing homework.
Scoring Rubrics:* The New Jersey Standards of Learning Assessments (NJSLS) for English Language Arts include three performance-based tasks, each containing a prose constructed response (PCR) item. The narrative writing task requires students to write based on a text, but the response is scored only for written expression and knowledge of language and conventions. The other two PCRs, the Research Simulation Task and the Literary Analysis Task, are scored for reading, written expression, and knowledge of language and conventions. NJGPA has developed rubrics for the scoring of the three PCR items (see below). The language of these rubrics is aligned to the NJSLS. Since the NJGPA rubrics use the language of the NJSLS, they will be used to score final written essays as well as writings produced during classroom instruction. In addition to teacher evaluation, students will use these rubrics for self and peer evaluation. This will afford students the opportunity to discuss how their individual works, with effective revisions, could better meet the criteria for excellence described in the rubric (i.e. to best meet the grade-level NJSLS). When working to help students develop an understanding of specific writing skills, the classroom teacher will use language from the dimensions on the rubric, along with models of student writing, to exemplify the criteria for mastery of a skill. In addition, the teacher may use language from these rubrics to create classroom rubrics or other formative assessment tools that are aligned to the standards.
*NOTE: The NJGPA holistic scoring rubrics are linked below. Specialized, custom rubrics will be used for assignments such as the research paper, as well as for activities such as speaking and listening.