Grading Guidelines

(Bio and PS ONLY, APES refer to APES page)

What is the Quality of Your Understanding?

Standards-Based Grading

You won't hear me talk so much about your "grade" and "number of assignments", I am far more interested in the degree to which you have learned the standard. Yes - there is a difference. Students that show proficient understanding of the learning targets (state standards) through assessments will pass the class. Assessments are worth 90% of your grade. Daily learning directly relates to any assessment and is imperative for students success.

This is a change in thinking for many people but standards based grading has years of research behind its ability to build confidence in learners, result in the greatest gains for all students, and be an accurate reflection of the students quality of learning toward the state standards.

Therefore, your question shouldn't ever be "How can I raise my grade?", it should be "How can I learn more to meet that standard?"

Assessments = 90% of overall grade

Assessments come in the form of quizzes, tests, projects, labs, class communication, portfolios and more and are used to gauge the degree of the student’s understanding of the standard.
Re-takes and revisions are allowed and expected on assessments that either fall behind the student's personal goal OR fall below proficient.
Re-takes and revisions are usually more work intensive so care should be taken to practice the skills necessary to pass the assessments the first time.
- Students will be required to submit any missing learning practice prior to qualifying for a retake or revision
- Students may also be required to attend a reteaching event prior to retaking or revising
There are two re-takes offered on quizzes but only one for tests or end-of-unit exams.
- End of Unit exams may have a fix-it opportunity in place of a retake. Fix-its afford a student to ear half credit for each section fixed.
Your grade will reflect the point at which you showed the highest quality of knowledge or skill.
Projects have due dates and deadlines. All projects must be turned in by the deadline to receive a grade. Students with IEPs, 504, or extenuating circumstances need to reach out to me for extensions PRIOR to the due date for an extension.
All units have closing deadlines. Students will need to be aware of those when planning on revising and/or retaking assessments. Once the deadline has passed, the opportunity to show me increased learning has also passed.
Final Exams or Final Projects will only be scored once with no opportunity for retakes. These grades are final.
Final grades are not open for negotiation and are not based on the quality of person a student is. Therefore, if a student's goal is to earn an A, that student should be performing at a Mastery level for the entire semester.

Work Completion = 10% of overall grade

All learning practice that is assigned as homework must be completed by the beginning of class on the date due. Learning Practice is graded on effort and not on right or wrong answers, however you will need to justify your answers during class discussions. Learning Practice will only be counted as complete if there are no blanks!)
- Learning Practice that is completed by the due date/time will earn 10 pts
- Learning Practice that is late but B work or better will earn 7 pts
- Learning Practice that is Incomplete will earn an Incomplete (0 pts) until the learning is completed
- Learning Practice that is missing will earn 0 pts
- Late Learning Practice will only be accepted up to the deadline posted for that assignment - usually the end of a unit.
When completing in-class projects, students will earn a score based on Student Presence/Classroom Behavior. This includes staying on-task, proper use of electronic devices, following directions, the ability to be reengaged when distracted (because, let's face it, we're human), and being a productive member of our classroom community.
- 10 pts = meets all expectation
- 7 points = meets expectations with only 2 reminders
- 0 points = continues to not meet expectations after two reminders

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