My Grading Policy

My Grading Policy

As much as my judgment will be used in grading student work, it will be objective and clear to the students and parents. Grades along with comments on major assignment will not only provide a measure of success, but where there is room for improvement the student will know that as well. I expect all my students to make every needed effort before they walk into the classroom. Preparation for class will only foster the appropriate habits of preparation for the end-of-the-year AP U.S. History Test.

Since this is a college-credit class, the privilege of fostering intelligent and open discussion would be amazing, but time constraints will prevent such verbal participation. Instead, students are expected to participate in the learning environment. They must be respectful of their peers, the teacher, and above all else, the learning process. A rubric has been provided below for recording evidence on student work.

Grades will be given according to predefined standards that I have created, as well as that recommended and practiced by College Board. Grades are given as part of a whole. They will then be given as percentages of the final grade according to the classification of daily grades and test grades. Assignments will either be a daily grade or test grade. Daily grades count for 40% of the final grade, and test grades count for 60% of the final grade. As mentioned before, this is a college-credit class that requires a modicum of hard work and preparation. Accordingly, late work will be accepted only the next day and only twice during a six weeks period. This is merciful considering most college classes do not ever accept late work. If an assignment is late, and the student has already turned in two late assignments in the six-weeks period, than that student will receive a zero. There will be no exceptions to that rule unless under extremely special circumstances. Even in such a circumstance an extra late assignment in one six-week will most likely be “borrowed” from another six-week period.

N.B. a grade below 70 is failing, while a grade above 70 is passing according to district policy. However, remember that the AP test is graded on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and receiving no credit, and 5 being the highest and guaranteeing college-credit. It would be safe to assume that the better the student does in this class, the better they will likely do on the AP test.