Our grading policy and philosophy has been developed and refined over the years, is research-based, aligned to the CMS Grading Policy and gives students the opportunity to truly achieve greater success with their learning. Its foundations are heavily grounded in both Montessori as well as traditional pedagogical research.
Philosophy: This Montessori idea teaches us that the work we do is innately invaluable when the work is completed only to receive a grade (extrinsic motivation); therefore, the value of the work is decreased. Completing ALL coursework is an expectation that ALL students must meet. Work is differentiated as needed for ALL students.
Formative Assessments: Classwork (labs, group station work, notebook checks, etc.) and shelf work (all individual practice assignments, individual station work, etc.) and homework are all examples of formative assessments (assessing or practicing FOR learning).
Summative Assessments: Quizzes, tests, seminars, projects, presentations, lab reports are assessments OF learning, as opposed to FOR learning.
Tracking Student Work: All students will track their work completion with the use of their checklist as well as with weekly logins to Powerschool. Parents are strongly encouraged to check PowerSchool on a regular basis. This allows you to know whether your child is consistently on time with not only turning in but also mastering assignments as well as actual grades.
In 2014, the State Board of Education approved the standard 10-point grading scale. Grades, as well as quality point calculations, will be applied as follows:
Grade Point Average (GPA) is computed as follows on a 4.0 scale:
Quality Points
- Standard Courses: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1 and F=0
- Honors Courses (all core courses): A=4.5, B=3.5, C=2.5, D=1.5 and F=0
- AP Courses (offered as elective courses): A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2 and F=0
- Additional quality points are considered in weighted GPA
GPA Calculation
- Weighted GPA: calculated by totaling the number of weighted quality points for each class and dividing this number by the total number of credits.
- Unweighted GPA: calculated by totaling the number of quality points (excluding honors or AP quality points) and dividing by the total number of credits.
