Digital Learning and Other Academic Policies

Policies Directly Related to Digital Learning

Parents and guardians are responsible for communicating to the school and providing a doctor’s note if a student is incapacitated to the point that they are not able to complete any work at home.

If this is the case, parents must update the school administration when the student is able to start completing work. Administration will communicate with teachers, and the teachers will work with the students on make-up work and getting them caught up with the internet-based model.

Parents and guardians must provide up to date and reliable methods for the school to reach them in case of an emergency, including an additional person to contact if they are not able to be reached at any given time.

Parents and guardians are also responsible for communicating to the school if internet connection is not accessible or if there is limited accessibility for the student while they are home and working on the internet-based model.

Parents and guardians must provide their email addresses to allow the school to give access to have the ability to check Schoology and message their students’ teachers. You will have access to your student’s grades, homework assignments, and communication that they receive through Schoology.

Students must participate to the fullest extent in the internet-based schooling model based on each teacher’s requirements. If a student is not present online when they are asked to be without an excused absence from a parent, then they will be considered unexcused and may have to make up work. Any late work turned in will be penalized based on each teacher’s late work policies.

If there are any technical difficulties causing the student to not be able to access the class or the class materials, the student must email their teacher as soon as possible.

Students must manage their own time and stay engaged with their teachers and classmates.

Check Schoology and email every morning, check email periodically throughout the day, ask teachers questions when you are confused, and try to stay in contact with your classmates.

Teachers will provide the following maximum amount of work per week for students which includes a combination of synchronous and asynchronous work:
- 12th — 4 hours per class (240 minutes)
- 11th — 3 hours per class (180 minutes)
- 10th — 3 hours per class (180 minutes)
- 9th — 2.5 hours per class (150 minutes)

Teachers may choose one or more of the following ways to provide this instructional time:
- Live video, audio, or text chatting with the full class, small groups, or individual students
- Recorded video or audio
- Discussion boards
- Online materials, presentations, quizzes, worksheets, etc.

Teachers are responsible for planning and communicating to students the lesson plan, learning objectives, agenda, work due, deadlines, and linking all resources and materials needed on Schoology Updates no later than 9am the day class is scheduled.

If a student is not completing their work or is absent from class for an extended period, teachers will be emailing the Admin Team and calling parents asap to inform them of this.
If a student fails a formative or summative assessment they are allowed to revise it for more points but they must approach the teacher within an appropriate amount of time after it has been entered into the gradebook.

Late Work and Extra Credit — Teachers will not enter an assignment or assessment minus late work points/penalties or with the addition of extra credit into their gradebook. Late work must be in its own category in the gradebook. Late work and extra credit may not be more than 10% of each unit’s cumulative points.

Revisions and Retakes — If a student fails an assignment or summative assessment, they will have a chance to revise or redo the assignment to replace a failing grade (69.5% or below). Students are responsible for initiating the revision with their teacher within two weeks of receiving the grade (although they may have longer to make-up the work). Teachers may allow students to revise and redo work other than failing assignments/assessments at their own discretion.

Rubrics/Grading Criteria Communication to Students — All summative assessments or assignments graded qualitatively (i.e. not just completion) must include a rubric or grading criteria communicated to the students and introduced prior to the beginning of the assessment/assignment. These should include description of student skills and/or content being assessed and the levels of student progress they may attain.

Failing Students — If a student is failing a class for two weeks in a row or longer, then teachers will contact parents/guardians, counselors, and the Admin. Team following these guidelines outlined in the Parent Communication Policy.

Grading Deadlines — Regular assignments will be graded and entered into the gradebook within one week of collection and assessments will be graded and entered within two weeks of collection

Attendance — Attendance is mandatory on synchronous class days and will be recorded in each class daily in Schoology. Students that are absent for more than 4 days in any class will be reported to the Admin Team and parents/guardians will be contacted.

Absences and Make-up Work — When students have an excused absence from class and are unable to complete their work assigned that day, they will have an additional school day to turn in the work without penalty. Students must initiate the conversation regarding make-up work or missed assessments with the teacher either before or by the day they are able to return to class. See attendance policies for cases involving extenuating circumstances.

IB Diploma Testing — Class of 2021 students may elect this year to NOT take exams in some or all of their IB classes. However, they will still complete EE, CAS, TOK, and other course requirements in order to graduate. In lieu of May exams, students will complete end of the year projects in their classes they are not testing in. Students will be surveyed at the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester regarding their choices for testing. Testing will be finalized no later than October 15th, 2020.

IB Grading Scales — When grading practice IB exams or mocks, teachers will be weighting the grades based on the IB subject scores from May of 2020 or May of 2019 as well as the Josephinum conversion chart.