Progress Reports and Grades

 I apologize for not getting the blog updated this past week.  I will continue to try and do this, but if you have concerns or need specific information and your child cannot help you, then please e-mail me for a quicker response.  

Students Received Progress Reports on Friday, 9/20/13.   

Below I have listed the information from the syllabus about our categories.  In this progress report we have many points related participation. that counts as 10% of their grade.  We only have one assessment score of 10 points that counted as 90% of their grade. A home work optional retest for this quiz was available to students and they were give 3 days to complete and it was due on Thursday, September 12th.  Many did not attempt the retest, or did not get it turned in, a  few did not follow the verbal and written directions given in class for the retest homework assignment.  Because of this decision  not to retest or to complete the retest accurately, some of the Progress Report grades are low.   I am keeping a close watch on the students grades.  Today we had an assessment over scientific method as well as a lab NB quiz that will both go into the 90% category.  If some are still struggling after I have entered those grades, I will contact you and conference with them and determine what we need to do differently for their success.  

From now on, any student who receives a grade of C or lower on an assessment will be required to complete some prep tasks and take a retest.   Students with high grades can have the option of taking the retest

 Grading

The grades are broken down into categories: participation (10%) and summative assessments (90%). Participation refers to anything that the student is expected to do to be an active participant of the science class, including such things as writing in agenda, homework, in-class assignments, group interactions, etc. Summative assessments are scores based upon the level of understanding the students show related to the science ideas and concepts being taught. Examples of summative assessments include tests, quizzes, some types of projects, verbal checks, etc. The PHM grading scale will be used.