The following criteria will be used in determining the grade a student earns in most Computer Science Classes:

Criteria Weight
Formative Assessments 70%
Homework & Preparation 15%
Class Participation & Work 15%
  • Individual teachers may announce more precise percentage limits in class.
  • Formative Assessments can take many forms:
    • Quizzes may be announced or unannounced, may last no more than 15 minutes, and be weighted as no more than 20% of one exam.
    • Projects are multi day assignments where students will be expected to develop both at home and in class. They can be weighted as an exam.
    • Labs are programming assignments of a short duration (two to three days). They can be weighted at up to 20% of one exam.
    • Exam Guidelines
    • Students who are medically excused (absent) on test days must have their parent notify their teacher informing them of their child’s illness.
    • If applicable, the final exam shall be weighted as no more than two exams.
    • Students found to be cutting on the date of an exam will receive a score of 0 on the exam.
  • Students found plagiarizing some or all of a project or otherwise caught cheating on an exam, project, mini project, or quiz, will receive a grade of 0 for the assignment, and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.
  • Classwork includes time allotted to work on assigned projects in the computer lab.

Skills Based Grading

Some courses are using a skills based grading approach. In this framework, a student’s grade will be solely based on their ability to prove competency of the core skills covered throughout the course. Some key components of this grading framework are:

  • All skills will be rated on a 0-4 scale.
  • Students will be given multiple opportunities to show mastery of each skill.
  • The skills will be clearly listed on the course syllabus.
  • Skill grades will be based on assessments (exams, quizzes, projects, labs, etc) only.
    • Assessments will be clearly noted when assigned.
  • Homework, classwork, entrance/exit tickets and other assignment types will be given, but will not factor into a students skill grade.
  • For report cards, skill based grades will be converted to the 100-point scale on the following curve:
    • 4: 100
    • 3: 88
    • 2: 75
    • 1: 55