We believe that academic growth over a course should be acknowledged and rewarded, as well as the depth of engagement displayed by a student. We also want to create incentives for students to improve across the duration of a course. This policy aims to recognise these aspects with relation to providing an opportunity for students to regain ‘lost’ course credit from receiving a failing grade of F in the first semester of a year-long course.
At JIS, we believe that there two elements that contribute to the achievement of credit for a course:
Academic proficiency (i.e. a passing grade of D or above) as informed by the standards of the course
Satisfactory engagement as a learner - this element is made up of attendance (High School attendance policy), as well as acceptable levels of our learning dispositions and responsibility as a student (meeting deadlines, contributions to class, etc.)
At JIS we believe strongly in learning dispositions as a foundation for success in later life. With this backdrop in mind, students must meet all of our expectations for a course, including academic standards, expectations of engagement with a course, and attendance in order to gain credit.
There are some important caveats:
The student must achieve a passing grade (D or above) at the conclusion of the course, based on the evidence of the learning objectives gathered by the end of the year.
The Grade in Progress reported in December will remain unaltered (because it is a grade in progress) but semester credit may be regained.
This policy does not include students who have lost credit due to poor engagement with the course.
An NG is not considered a passing grade, therefore no credit is awarded for an NG.
There are two avenues for a student to regain course credit ‘lost’ in the first semester of the school year: through an appeal, based on improvement in 2nd semester or through taking extra courses of study internally or externally.
If a student's grade in progress is a failing grade (F) for a course at the end of the first semester of a school year, the student may appeal at the end of the school year to receive course credit for the first semester, if the following conditions are met:
a) The student achieves a passing grade by the end of the academic year (D or above).
b) The student has met attendance requirements for both semesters.
c) The student has displayed acceptable learning dispositions in terms of resilience, resourcefulness and being reflective.
If a student wants to appeal to regain credit he/she must appeal through a Google Form to the Associate Principal (AP) of Curriculum & Learning requesting the granting of course credit for first semester. The AP will communicate with the student's teacher and counselor to determine whether the student has displayed engagement with the course and has met his/her responsibilities as student with regard to assessments, meeting deadlines and response to suggested interventions.
Based on approval from the High School administration, course credit will be awarded retroactively for a first semester course, even though their grade in progress was an F.
Students may be able to receive graduation credit by undertaking accredited courses of study with accredited providers as approved by the AP for Curriculum & Learning. These may include JIS courses in the following year(s) in High School or external options such as Summer courses or online courses. These courses must satisfy our requirements for rigour and authentic assessment. Examples of online credit-recovery course providers include options such as:
Johns Hopkins Online
Students who wish to regain credit through external courses must work through their counselor to provide course information and validation to the AP of Curriculum & Learning, who will give final approval.