Here in the Hortonville Area School District, we use the philosophy that learning is a process. Some students will understand concepts right away while others will take more time. The important thing is that all students learn the concept in the end. This results in the day to day routine and grading processes to be different than most parents are used to. Here are some terms that you might be hearing throughout the year from your student or myself:
Learning Target: Learning targets are the basic concepts that we want the students to learn. They are broken down into levels that we refer to as "need to know" (essential skills that all students need to master to move on to the next level), and "nice to know" (concepts that are higher level than the essential skills.) Students are tested only on the "need to know" or the essential skills.
Formative Assessment: A formative assessment is an assessment of how students are doing regarding the learning of the concept. These are usually short and may be done with paper and pencil or orally. Some will be announced and some will be unannounced. The reason for this is that it tells the student (and the teacher) what the student knows at the time of the assessment, not what they can cram in just beforehand. Formative assessments are used to help students, parents, and teachers monitor progress. The results of these assessments should let the students know whether they need to ask more questions, study the material more, or whether they are on track with the concept. Students who are not proficient on a formative assessment may be pulled in during ELT (Extended Learning Time) for re-teaching, and will then retake the formative assessment. (One final note: some formative assessments will be referred to as CFAs or common formative assessments. These are assessments that were developed cross district and are used by multiple teachers within the district.)
Summative Assessment: A summative assessment is the final project and/or test. It shows what the student has learned. It covers only the main concepts and learning targets. This test counts toward the final grade. Students are informed well in advance of when the test will be and the concepts are reviewed in class.
Grades will be based on:
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