Grading notes
I have begun posting students’ grades on Powerschool. On Friday students learned how to log on to see their grades. Because this is the first time students have seen their grades online, I want to share with families some of my grading philosophies.
Powerschool keeps a running average of assignment grades. The average does not become a final grade until the end of the trimester. Classwork and homework assignments so far have been graded on a point system, with each assignment being worth a possible 25 points. If a student has 20 or 15 points for a particular assignment, that means that the work was incomplete or not done completely to standard. If an assignment is marked 0, that means that it was not turned in.
For assignments that are missing, students SHOULD complete and turn in the work. After it is graded, then it will be include in their overall average. For assignments that are marked with less than the full amount of possible points, students have the option to continue to give it another try for higher credit. For certain assignments, like some tests, experiments, and projects, I require students to keep working until they can demonstrate that they have met the standard. This may take the form of retaking a test, or trying an experiment a second time.
If students are choosing to redo an assignment, they should do it within a reasonable amount of time. This helps make sure that the learning is relevant to what we are doing in class. If a student waits until the end of a trimester and then scrambles to try to catch up, their learning will suffer.
This doesn’t apply to tests like the NWEA and the MEA.
To see a list of a students assignments for Science, click on the grade in Powerschool.
