Grading Philosophy & Policies

Part One: Grading Philosophy

​I will be measuring student achievement. The grades I give students will result from
evidence of learning and performance of standards. The reason for this is because you cannot
measure effort—every single student will be different and have different needs, so it is not fair to
grade them on a biased scale. Grades serve the purpose of communicating student achievement
to students, parents, school administrators, institutions and employers. Evidence should be
gathered from assessments. This evidence should be organized and reported by
standards/learning goals, and not shoved to fit into a single grade with no explanation.

Part Two: Grading Policies

Students will be graded on academic achievement. I will not grade effort and
participation, even though I expect students to be a part of the classroom.

1. What will be factored into a student’s grade and what will not?
a. Summative/tests/quizzes/major assessments: I believe no work should go without
feedback. I will provide students with thorough feedback on all assignments that
get turned in. Students are always welcome to ask me for feedback at any given
time during the school year. Feedback will consist of hand written notes either on
the assignment itself or on the rubric assignment if it contains one. Summative
assessments will be worth ​40%​ of a students grade. Formative assessments will
be worth ​20%​.
b. Formative/homework: I do not believe in assigning daily homework. I know my
students live busy lives outside of school. I will normally provide the last 5-10
minutes of class to be in-class work time, if that carries over, students will then
have homework to do outside of class. Homework will count for ​20%​ of student
grades.

2. What will your grading scale be?

a. Scale
i. A 100%-89.5%
ii. B 89.4%-79.5%
iii. C 79.4%-69.5%
iv. D 69.4%-59.5%
v. F 59.4%-0.00%
b. Grades: Students will never receive a zero. My cut off is passing, and in this
school that counts as ____% or a grade letter of ____ (enter information on the
 cutoff grade for passing at this specific school. Normally, this is a D, so that
would be 59.5%).

3. Late work and incomplete work

a. Late homework will be accepted upon request and communication through
me​. I understand that things happen that are out of our control sometimes, but
students should not use it to their advantage, all work will need to be done in this
class to pass.
b. Late work can receive full credit. If work is not being completed, I will assist
students with necessary help.

4. Retakes and Revisions

a. Students can retake or redo each summative assessment once.
b. Students will be able to revise and resubmit formative assessments until they
receive their desired score/grade.
c. The cutoff for these submissions is the week before each quarter ends. This will
allow me to finish grading all student work in a timely manner before grades are
due for teacher submission.
d. These resubmissions will be made possible by keeping online classroom
submission open by extending due dates. For work that is outside of the online
realm, those submissions and/or retakes will need to be made through
communication with me. This could take place over email or in person.
e. Summative assessments, such as tests, will be altered and recreated while still
containing the same content, goals, and objectives from the initial assessment.

5. Group Projects and Grades

a. Students will participate in group projects throughout the school year.
b. Students will be graded individually in group projects. This will ensure students
will not be unfairly penalized for the group's work as a whole.

6. Academic Integrity
a. Students who are caught cheating will have a one-on-one conference with me and
the school counselor. The assignment or test will be discarded and I will
personally create a new prompt for the student(s) to complete. The highest a
student can score on the retake is 60%.
b. We will communicate and work together throughout the school year. If there is
ever a time where a student contemplates cheating, it’s best to talk to me about
outside issues and things that lead said student to where they felt the need to
cheat.
7. Extra Credit
a. I will not offer extra credit. My reasoning for this is because students have the
opportunity to revise and submit all formative assessments. Students also will get
one retake or retry on each summative assessment.

8. ALL LATE AND REVISED WORK WILL NEED TO BE TURNED IN NO LATER

THAN THE FRIDAY BEFORE EACH SEMESTER ENDS.
a. End of semester 1 __/__/__
b. End of semester 2 __/__/__
c. End of semester 3 __/__/__
d. End of semester 4 __/__/__