Missing Work

Dear Moms and Dads--

The policy in 6th grade is that we do not accept "late" assignments. Obviously, if a student is ill, or there has been some sort of major interference with a child's ability to complete an assignment, I want to work with you to make sure your student has the ability to succeed -- so let me know about those kinds of circumstances.

There has been some confusion about the "missing assignment" form that we have students complete when they do not have the assignment to turn in when it is due. Let me explain how this works for my classes:

Students are required to either hand in the assignment at the expected time, OR they are to complete the form that indicates that they do not have the assignment. When I go through a set of student work, there should be work, or the missing work form for every student.

It is my feeling that giving "0's" for missing work creates great mathematical impact on student grades, and suggests that a student who is in class and actively participating gained nothing at all from the experience. I just do not believe that to be the case. Also, I want students to be responsible for filling in those "missing work" forms, so when the form is turned in appropriately, I will give the student some credit (rather than a "0") for the assignment. Either, the student will receive the lowest score of anyone who did turn in the work, or a 70% -- whichever is lower. The only time that a student is given a "0" on their work is when they DO NOT turn in the assignment, and DO NOT complete the "missing work" form. So, as parents, you may see some number of points indicated on the "missing work" form that students bring home with their weekly graded work. Please note that this is applicable to my classes only, and does not occur for the language arts and religion classes.

I do hope this helps to clarify how this works in my classes (math, science, and social studies).