ACADEMIC HONESTY: Honesty is a big part of living with integrity. At South Hills, if your name appears on an individually assigned piece of work, that means you completed that work by following the teachers’ instructions. If any of the following conditions occurred during the completion of the assigned task, you will be in violation of behavioral expectations.
- Receiving or providing information during or for a test
- Using non-approved material on tests
- Violating testing rules and procedures
- Using someone else’s writing (word for word or almost word for word) and saying it is your own. This is plagiarism.
- Using someone else’s ideas as your own and not giving proper credit
- Using or copying another student’s assignment to turn in as your own
- Allowing other students to use your work with the exception of approved group, lab or collaborative projects
- Forgery
Violation of the behavioral expectation of academic honesty may result in the following consequence(s):
- Parent Contact
- Drop in citizenship grade to a U
- Drop in academic grade until proficiency or mastery is demonstrated
- Administrative Intervention
- Referral
Students in violation of the Academic Honesty expectation will receive a “0” for work that is the product of their dishonesty. Students will need to meet with their teacher to develop a plan for completing the work, demonstrating proficiency of the material, and recovering lost citizenship credit.
HOMEWORK REQUESTS: If a student has been absent for three or more days due to illness, or in the event of an emergency, a parent may request homework through the Counseling Center. The Counseling Center must be notified 24 hours prior to picking up the homework. It is recommended that each student write down phone numbers of friends who may pick up their homework for them.
- Teachers will provide students sufficient time to complete assignments and clearly inform students of assignment due dates.
- Any late assignments (if complete) will not be penalized and will receive the grade earned depending on the accuracy and quality of the work.
- The purpose of assignments is to help students master the content being taught so that they may demonstrate their knowledge on the assessment for the academic standard(s). There are times when it is beneficial to assign a deadline for late work at the end of a unit in order to maximize the learning that will come from completing the assigned work; for this reason, individual teachers or departments may cut off late work at the end of a unit.
- Students are responsible for asking teachers for assignments missed due to absences.
- Students may turn in late work without penalty during a unit.
- Students may retake an assessment if they complete the eligibility requirements that will help them prepare appropriately for an assessment re-take.
REPORT CARDS and MIDTERM PROGRESS REPORTS: Grades are always available on Skyward. Report cards and mid-term reports will not be printed or mailed home. They can be found on Skyward. Official transcripts and report cards may be requested from the counseling center.
REQUIRED SUPPLIES: Students should bring their charged Chromebook every day.
SCHOOL-WIDE GRADING POLICY: We use standards-based mastery grading. Grades will be determined by achievement toward mastery of the standards. Student behaviors (effort, participation, adherence to class rules, etc.) will not be used to determine grades. This means citizenship grades will carry more weight and be used more clearly and systematically. Based on those standards, academic grades won’t consider anything directly related to the core curriculum and student demonstrations of mastery - or progress towards mastery. Performance classes such as physical education, art, music, dance, and theater have performance goals at their core; thus, their grades will also reflect performance and participation standards within their core curriculum. Students will receive mastery-level points when they achieve mastery-level performance.
SKYWARD: Both parents and students will receive a Skyward log-in ID and password in order to view current grades, missing assignments, attendance information, and additional information. Both IDs and passwords will be mailed home at the beginning of the school year. The website for Skyward is is.jordan.k12.ut.us.
Parents and students should check Skyward regularly. Grades should be updated weekly. To access Skyward, go to southhills.jordandistrict.org and click on ‘Gradebook’, or go to www.jordandistrict.org and click on ‘Parents and Students’, then ‘Family Access (Skyward)’, and then choose your web browser access.
STANDARDS-BASED GRADING: South Hills Middle School uses a standards-based grading model. Students are assessed based on mastery of a standard or objective being taught. A scale (4-3-2-1) is used to identify the level of mastery a student has achieved on a particular standard or objective as follows:
| 4
Advanced |
The student demonstrates proficiency through an advanced application of concepts, skills, and/or processes of the standard. |
| 3
Proficient |
The student demonstrates proficiency through a consistent understanding of concepts, skills, and/or processes of the standard. |
| 2
Approaching |
The student demonstrates limited proficiency through some understanding of concepts, skills, and/or processes of the standard. |
| 1
Beginning |
The student does not yet demonstrate proficiency through understanding concepts, skills, and/or processes of the standard. |
If students do not demonstrate mastery of a concept via an assessment, they are welcome to retake that assessment as long as they complete assigned learning tasks designed to help them understand and develop proficiency for the standard. Assessments make up 80% of an academic grade and reflect students’ mastery of standards and/or objectives. Academic assignments, practice for the assessments, make up the remaining 20% of an academic grade.
Academic grades will be determined on the following basis:
A = 4 - 3.5 - Advanced
B = 3.49 - 2.8 - Proficient (Meets Standard)
C = 2.79 - 2 - Approaching
D = 1.99 - 1 - Beginning
F = .99 - 0 - No evidence of learning/mastery
History of Standards Based Grading at SHMS
TEACHER ADVISORY: Teacher Advisory (TA) is the first period of the day. TA provides students with a teacher advocate who mentors them academically and socially. TA also provides an opportunity to teach study skills, coping strategies, and provide guidance. Additionally, it allows students to listen to morning announcements and tend to other school business without disrupting students’ regular academic classes. Students will receive a pass or fail grade (60% and above is passing) based upon completion of advisory class requirements.
Students are expected to:
● Participate in all TA activities
● Attend class regularly and behave in an orderly manner
● Listen attentively to morning announcements
● Participate in reading days and come prepared with a book on reading days