Info for Parents

GRADING POLICIESAND KEYS TO SUCCESS

The purpose of this section of the blog is to inform students and parents of information pertinent to their or their child's education.  I would like to give you some updates on grading policies in my class for the 2016-2017 school year.

 For the past few years grades in the science classes have been divided into two sections: assessment (90%) and participation (10%).  A few years ago we began giving a 9 weeks test which became worth 10% of the nine weeks grade making assessment worth 80%.

As you can see from the information outlined above, grades in Biology are largely based on performance on assessments with a small percentage of the grade coming from class participation.  For this reason, it is essential for students to be in class every day and to participate fully in each and every learning opportunity.  When students are absent from class, it is very difficult for them to catch up on their own.  While resources are provided for any student who must be absent, there is simply no substitute for the classroom experience.  Therefore, it is important to make sure your child attends school every day possible.

In addition to making sure your child attends school every day, you can also help your child be successful by monitoring their progress through Parent Portal on Infinite Campus.  Assessment scores are posted on IC, but students who do not achieve the score they want can earn the opportunity to retake an assessment by doing extra practice to help them grasp the concept.  This extra practice will be assigned through a variety of methods including paper/pencil and virtual assignments.  This will be done on an individual basis according the students' needs.  When a student retakes an assessment for a better score, the new score can be used to completely replace the old one.  As a parent, you can help your child succeed by encourgaging him or her to take advantage of these opportunities.

A student receiving an 85-100 on an assessment has demonstrated proficiency of that concept.  Students are encouraged to retake assessments if they have not demonstrated proficiency.  Therefore, if you see a score that is less than 85%, please encourage your student to practice that skill or concept and retake the assessment.  Scores of 50% indicate that the student has not taken the assessment and needs to do so.