|
End of Year Information
Published on Jun 9, 2020 15:39
Good afternoon,
I hope this email finds you well. I can't tell you how much we miss not having our students in school as we begin the process of closing out the year. When we left on Friday March 13, I certainly didn't think we'd be out for the rest of the year, but here we are. I know this experience has been a struggle for everyone, but we have almost made it! We have just over one week left in the 2019-2020 school year! I wanted to give you an update on some things as we close out the school year.
1. Locker clean out: Mrs. Joseph has sent out emails with the times for students to come and collect the belongings that were left in lockers. That is also the time for students to come and turn in school issued books, etc. (for grades 9-11 students may keep Chromebooks over the summer). If students are not able to come to school on their scheduled day, we will have other times when they can collect their things. There is always a bin or cart outside if students have something to drop off, so students can do that any time. Please put items in a bag with the student's name on it when dropping off school-issued items.
2. End of year: School ends on Wednesday, June 17. There are no final exams in the traditional sense, but teachers may have a final assessment. Like all assignments during the school closure, it will be graded as credit/no credit. Teachers will not be accepting work after June 17.
3. Grading: Thanks for your patience as we worked this out. We know that some students were unable to give their full attention to their school work during the closure for a variety of reasons. We did not want those students to suffer because of circumstances beyond their control. We also know that many students did keep up with their work and some even excelled during the remote learning phase of the year. We wanted to reward those students. The grading system is explained below:
As you know, we combined terms 3 and 4 (the original belief was that we would be back during term 4 and would combine graded assignments from term 3 with those of term 4). Since we did not come back to school after March 13, we only have graded assignments up until that date. We were physically in school for a total of 119 days. 1st quarter was 42 days, 2nd quarter was 43 days, and 3rd quarter was 28 days. We calculated the weight of each term towards final year average based on those numbers. The result is 36% Q1, 36% Q2, and 28% Q3 (or Semester 1=72% and Semester 2=28%). Student work during the remote learning phase of the year (since March 30) has been assessed as "credit/no credit." If a student earned "credit" in a course, his/her teacher can award from 1 to 12 points onto the quarter 3 average based on the quality and quantity of the work. If a student earned no credit during remote learning, the grade is not brought down, but the student does not get extra points on quarter 3. In other words, remote learning could not hurt a student's grade, it could only help it. So, if a student had a Q3 average of 80 when we left on March 13, and did everything assigned in class to an acceptable level, the third term grade would now be a 92. We wanted to make sure those students who have been putting in the effort during the remote phase get some credit for it, while at the same time not punish those students who were unable to get work done for a variety of reasons.
For classes that met only during second semester (like S2 Health, Art Design and New Media, Crime Fiction, etc.): those classes will be assessed as Pass/Fail; there will not be a letter grade; and they will not be factored into GPA.
For those students who had PE during 4th quarter, receiving credit will mean a passing grade and 1.25 credits. 4th quarter PE students who do not earn credit in PE will not have the course listed on their report card and will have to make up the 1.25 credits next year in addition to their mandated phys ed class next year (in other words, if a student didn't earn PE credit this year, he/she will have to double up next year).
So what does it look like? Take 2 students with the same averages up until March 13: Student A did not do work during Remote Learning and Student B did it all
Q1 (36%) Q2 (36%) Q3 Remote Learning Adjusted Q3 (28%) Year Avg
Student A 80 80 80 No Credit 80 80 B-
Student B 80 80 80 +12 92 83 B
Students who were failing for the year when we left school on March 13 were given an opportunity to make up term 3 work during the remote learning phase. If this was not done, they would fail the course for the year.
4. Upcoming events:
Senior Awards and Scholarship Night (virtual) Monday June 15 at 6:00
Millis Talent Show (virtual) Wednesday June 17 at 6:00
Millis Class of 2020 Class Day (TBD)
Millis Class of 2020 Graduation: Thursday July 30 at 6:00 (note only immediate family members will be able to attend this ceremony; it will be live-streamed)
Underclass Awards (grades 9-11) will be held (hopefully in person) in the fall
5. Next year: Next year is still very much in the air right now. The state has come up with some preliminary guidelines that we are working with currently, but what school will look like next fall is still a mystery. As we get more information from the state, we will try to communicate that to you as soon as possible.
Thank you for all of your patience and support as we have dealt with the closure of school since March 13. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.
Best wishes as we approach June 17!
Sincerely,
Bob Mullaney
Principal
|