Vista del Lago High School

The English Langue Arts Department at Vista del Lago High School fully endorses and complies with the school-wide Assessment and Grading Policy. The following items are specific to the English Department, and will be the standard for all English courses at Vista del Lago High School:

Extra Credit: No extra credit will be offered.

Grading Scale: 

• Every assessment in the course is still going to be marked as formative (during learning/for learning) or summative (at the end of learning).
• Each assessment will be scored out of six levels of proficiency.  For assignments where multiple skills are being assessed (for instance, an essay, which might have five or six rubric strands being assessed , multiple columns will be used in the gradebook to report scores.  
• As parents, looking at how the students are doing is going to be best reflected by the letter grade rather than the percentage.  For example, an 84% will read as an A, and a 50% will read as a C-.  Ideally, we will be able to track growth in a particular skill (i.e. “How is the student progressing in the organization category of writing assignments?” or “My student often scores lower in conventions—why is that?”) rather than just “What grade does s/he have?”
• Ultimately, the six-point scale helps students view their abilities in the context of learning proficiencies rather than points. When students understand the criteria upon which they are evaluated and can visualize how to master specific skills, they are more likely to realize their learning goals. The 6-point scale minimizes subjectivity and has the capacity to shift the mindset from "learning to earn a grade" to "learning for the sake of learning."

Group Projects: When participating in a group project, students will be graded individually and we will be evaluated based on their own work within the group. No group grade or average score will be used to determine an individual student’s grade on a group project.