Eastside Prep intends student assessment to be not simply a final arbitration of achievement but a learning tool and an indicator of progress throughout the school year. Assessment is communicated in the following ways:
REGULARLY UPDATED ONLINE ASSIGNMENT RECORDS
A record of missing and completed assignments is posted for each student and each course on Eastside Prep's internal website, allowing students to clearly see their progress and take responsibility for their work. This record also gives parents the chance to start meaningful dialogue with their students and with the school, providing a common record on which plans for improvement can be based.
FORMAL WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Teachers write comments to send home at the mid-point of each trimester. These comments are focused on describing how the student is learning and giving each student specific, concrete examples on how they can do better in the second half of the trimester. Comments are accompanied by unofficial grades from each course.
During the year, advisors and students will have an ongoing dialogue about how the year is progressing. In addition to formal grades at the end of each trimester, communication to parents will occur other forms, such as a summative letter written by the advisor at the end of trimester one and individual conferences with parents. The goal of these communications are to help the students and parents see trends in the students' work and in their overall accomplishment at Eastside Prep.
CONVERSATIONS
Eastside Prep’s grading philosophy:
| A |
Exceptional work which reflects mastery of information as well as evidence that the student has moved significantly beyond the expectation of satisfactory achievement |
| B |
Solid work which reflects competence with the content as well as evidence that the student has met the expressed expectations |
| C |
Satisfactory work which reflects basic understanding |
| D |
Work reflects lack of basic understanding or evidence that the student either did not understand the expectation, or chose not to meet it |
| F |
The student chose not to submit the assignment, or reflects substantial lack of understanding |
At Eastside Prep, student assessment is an opportunity to open a conversation with a student about the quality of his or her work. We expect that conversation to be ongoing, and we intend it to motivate students to fully actualize their ability to turn information into knowledge.
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