Final Exams Beginning in sixth grade, Middle School students take final exams at the end of each semester in all their core academic courses. The exam schedule is posted on the school calendar. Exam periods last 2 hours and will count as follows: ● 10% of the semester grade in 6th grade courses except Bible ● 15% of the semester grade in 7th grade courses and most 8th grade courses ● 20% of the semester grade in 8th grade courses with Upper School credit Grades Unlike the Upper School in which grades and passing or failure of a course are based on grades for each semester independently, the Middle School bases final grades, and whether a student passes or fails a course, on the grade at the end of the school year. The Middle School grade at the end of the school year is calculated by averaging the first and second semester grades for each course. At the end of each nine-week reporting period, a progress report is available on the Whitefield Academy website (click “Parents”). The site contains the student’s cumulative grades to that point in the semester. Teacher comments regarding grades are also viewable on the Whitefield Academy website under the Parent Portal four times a year. Grade Reporting Semester grades will be reported as follows: ● Mid-Semester Grading Period - grades with comments for all students ● Semester Grading Period - grades for all students and comments for students who failed a course Grading Scale ● 90-100 (A) ● 80-89 (B) ● 70-79 (C) ● Below 70 (F) Homework Homework is given to facilitate next-day classroom discussion or to prepare students for concepts to be presented in class. If this homework is not done on time, the student is ill- prepared to be a participant and learner in class. The consequences for late homework will be determined by the individual academic departments. Homework is a graded part of the curriculum. Studying for a test or working on long-term projects will require longer amounts of homework time and essential time management skills. Middle School students are encouraged to review the notes from all their courses on a daily basis in order to build good study habits and to avoid procrastination. The Middle School planners are designed specifically for each grade level at Whitefield, and we will use these to build out executive functioning skills in all students. The school recognizes that parents may and should be interested in and encourage their child’s efforts; ultimately, however, homework represents the student’s efforts and should not be done by parents. In addition, sharing of homework with another student, unless specifically permitted in certain cases of group work by teachers, breaks the Honor Code.
Family Handbook 2023-2024
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