Interim Progress Reports

I am in the process of issuing interim progress reports to all of my students this week. B day received them today (Wednesday) and A day will receive them on Thursday. The grade this week is  a snapshot of a student's progress not the final destination. It is fluid and may change over time. Parents, before you contact me about your child's grade PLEASE ask your child why she or he EARNED the grade that she or he did. There are some students who have earned very strong grades of A, B, or C based on their activity, assessment, and technology grades. Remember, the grade categories are weighted with ASSESSMENTS being worth 60% of the grade. Technology and Activities are each 20%. Missing or not doing well on Gizmo Assessment Questions can pull a grade right down.

What is the student to do???????  I have the following safety nets in place currently: students may make test corrections to their Quiz on Atmospheric Heating. They may submit Copies of their Assessment Question Scores along with a DO OVER form (posted on scribd and the link is in the entry that follows this one). There is one caveat about the Gizmo Assessment ?s. A score of 5/5 submitted as a do over will only be worth 90 points. This will help the student who did not succeed originally, but will not punish a student for doing well the first time. In fact, any student who submits a grade of less than 5/5 is hurting his or her own grade because 4/5 is 80%, 3/5 is 60% and grades like those pull an average down. There is no do over for do overs.  There are also no do overs for Gizmo SEGs which are found in the technology section. Completing the Student Exploration Guide correctly and submitting it on time will guarantee a student 10/10 points. If it is incomplete then a grade of 6/10 will be earned.

If I have made an error in posting a grade (and it happens) then all a student has to do is bring the graded activity that will show me where the error occurred and speak with me when we have some time in class or team time. The activity must have evidence that it was turned in to me (stamp or sticker ) to be considered. Many student products are kept in their portfolios which are in the classroom. Students have access to their portfolio almost all of the time. Other products will be in their ISN. Yes, there are more papers to pass back to be filed away.