district student handbook 2013-2014 - Union County Vocational ...

The board of education encourages the certified staff, under
the direction of the chief school administrator, to employ a
comprehensive approach to the use of appraisal and
evaluative techniques in monitoring student progress,
including, but not limited to, student performance,
written/verbal/practical quizzes and tests, written
assignments and recognized certification, licensing or
occupational competency tests.
In order to help students who may have had some initial
academic difficulty, no grade 10 points below the minimum
passing grade will be issued for the first two marking periods
of a full year course. In the case of a semester course, no
grade 10 points below the minimum passing grade will be
issued in the first marking period of that course.
Teachers' grade books will be submitted to the Principal or
designee upon request.
At a conference with the teacher, the Principal will review any
disputed grades and may adjust them with approval from the
Chief School Administrator. A parent/guardian and/or a
student may appeal a decision regarding a grade by utilizing
the board of education grievance procedure.
9.2 The Quality Point Average (QPA)
Because students are admitted to UCVTS full-time schools
through a selective process and all career academy courses
are designed and taught at the honors or enriched level, all
course grades are unweighted.
The QPA will be calculated in the following manner: The
numeric final grade for an individual course will be multiplied
by the number of credits earned for that course. The product
will represent the number of quality points earned for that
course. Final grades that are failing will accrue no quality
points. This will be done for all credit-bearing high school
courses except for those offered through Union County
College. Courses that are taken to earn credit for previously
failed coursework will not be included in the QPA calculations.
The sum of all quality points will be divided by the total number
of credits attempted. Courses used to replace previously failed
coursework are not included in this calculation. The quotient
will be the QPA.
9.3 Incomplete Grades
At the discretion of the teacher and with the approval of the
Principal, a student may be issued an “incomplete” in lieu of a
marking period grade. An incomplete may be issued when,
due to extenuating circumstances, assignments are
outstanding and it is not feasible to give a student an
appropriate grade for that marking period. Incomplete grades
must be made up within a specified period of time, usually two
weeks, as determined by the teacher and the counselor.
Upon completion of the work, the grade will be changed and
notice of the grade change will be sent home to the parent or
guardian. If the student does not make up the missed work
within the specified period of time, the student will receive
zeros for that work and the appropriate grade will be assigned.
9.4 Testing
The school district shall establish and maintain a testing
program to:
Measure the needs and progress of individual students;
Measure the achievement of grade levels; and
Aid in evaluation of instruction programs/curricula.
The district-testing program shall embody at least the tests
required by state law. The administration shall continually