How are grades determined?
- Grades are determined primarily by the quality of student writing. Students have the ability to redraft written work right up to the “A” level. Therefore, there is little or no excuse for failing grades.
- 8th grade evaluations will also include three major writing projects, which, depending on the timing, may make up a significant portion of the student's grade.
- Successful participation in the Reading Counts program is also an important.
Grade information specific to essays:
- There are many skills needed to write a successful essay. As each skill is taught, the students become responsible for implementing the skill in their essays. Generally, the skills which are easiest to grasp or are the most fundamental to success are taught first. The finer points are taught later.
- This is a building block process. Extremely important: Until a student masters the new skill, a grade of "59" will be given to reflect the student's lack of mastery. A student who also fails to show continued mastery of previously presented skills will also be given a "59".
- As students redraft and correct the problems, the grade will go up to reflect the improvement. Assignments can be redrafted to "A" level.
- As an example, after students are instructed that essays must have three parts, i.e. introduction, body, and conclusion, it is expected that all further essays be constructed in three parts. When students are taught how to construct a successful paragraph, the next essay is to be in three parts with successful paragraphs.
