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New Grading Policy Started 8/26/11 Edited 11/6/11
Physical Science Grading Policy
In alignment with best practices pursued by our school's administration, 80% of your grade each quarter will be based on approximately 2 to 4 summative tests (grouped chapter tests and course final), and 1 to 3 summative lab exercises and lab reports. The other 20% of your quarter's grade will be from a Content Standards assessment.
Formative assessments and exercises will occur weekly, if not daily, and be used solely to guide your mastery of the class material and Ohio Content Standards.
Summative assessments will test what you have mastered in my class and count toward your grade, and Formative assessments will be used as practice and guides, and will not affect your final grade.
The major changes is that your grade will be based on fewer assessments, and you will have a much longer time to practice your skills before you take them. It is my sincere hope and plan, that this change in the grading policy will have two positive results.
I think that this change in our grading policy will prove to be greatly beneficial.
Class Grades
Regular Class Labs and Tests will account for 80% of your grade. During the quarter, grades will be entered as they are earned to present a clear picture of what you are accomplishing in my class. Retesting will be offered outside of normal class time and often requires additional review work to qualify. Your grade on your retest will be the best grade you have received. If you ace the retest then that's the grade I enter.
Most tests will offer a retest with the exception of the end of quarter course final, and the final short cycle assessment. To be eligible to take a retest you must do the work to learn the material listed on the class website and turn it in a day prior to taking the retest. Retest need be made up within a week of learning your grade.
Regular End of Quarter Grades: At the end of each quarter, I will be following the recommended 50% lowest grade score when I am calculating the quarter's final grade. All Summative grades lower than 50% at the end will be raised to 50% for the final calculation. The rationale here is that there is a 10% range between all of the passing grades and a 60% range for failure. A 50% floor for failure corrects this discrepancy and gives struggling students incentive to improve.
Final Content Standards Test (Short Cycle Assessment) will account for 20% of your grade.
A test covering the content standards for each section of this course will be given at the end of each quarter. There will be a 50% failure floor. Most of the material for this test will come from previously administered tests and from questions that directly relate to the Ohio Content Standard for Physical Science.
All Summative work must be turned in before I can issue a final grade for my class. If you are missing part of the summative work when final grades are due, you will be given a zero for the missing work and issued your grade with a note on your report card that you have missing work. Failure to have the work completed will result in behavior consequences and the possibly of not getting credit for my class.
Notes on Class Work Load
It is very important to realize that this will not change the work load in my class. We will continue to have weekly lab exercises, regular activities, worksheets, and quizzes as we normally did. The difference is that most of these will now be formative in nature--we will review our answers right away and use them as study guides and preparation for the larger summative tests and labs that will follow. Some of these formative exercises will be recorded to track your class progress, but they will not be used to determine your final class grade. Only the larger summative assessments will be used for that. This is NOT an excuse to not do your homework.
Notes on Class Discipline
Even though this formative class work will not directly affect your grade, it is still required work for my class. Refusing to do this formative class work, or choosing not to start the work in a timely fashion, is a behavior issue. Refusing work will result in immediate referral for discipline. Wasting class time will be referred to the administration for discipline after 3 minor incidences, which is similar to the school's tardy policy.
Study Lunch
If you are missing a summative assignment, you will be assigned to Study Lunch until you have completed your work. Students will report to Study Lunch and sign in within 10 minutes of the start of their lunch period. They will eat and finish their work. If you have finished the work and can't find me to check it, you must still go to Study Lunch or risk referral for discipline. Students will continue going to study lunch for up to a week for each missing assignments. If the work is not handed in with in that week of when it was due, the student will assigned to a Saturday School.
Current policy (subject to change) for not turning in summative work: Study Lunch to provide school time to finish the work (school administration is not involved), if study lunch is skipped or if there are problems, then it's lunch detention (School administration becomes involved). Continual infractions lead to after school detentions and Saturday school assignment. If the work is not handed in within a week of when it was due, the student will assigned to a Saturday School to give them time to finish it.
Notes on Accommodations
If you normally have tests read by Mr. Ryan, this will continue for all Summative tests that affect your grade. Formative quizzes and assessments will not normally be read to you. Help will be available, but these are practice assessments to be corrected immediately and provide instant feedback. Once corrected, most of these formative assessments will be kept in your science notebook (or notes on them) so they may aid in your preparation for the summative tests that will count toward your final grade in my class. All accommodations will be available for all summative tests and labs, and these accommodations will be the primary responsibility of our specialist and science co-teacher, Mr. Ryan.
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