“You are never a failure until you quit
trying” and “effort produces achievement.”
I have said this countless times over the
past decade as a principal in C-FB ISD. Now, with the adoption by the district
of the new grading procedures the above statements and a reassessment can
provide our students the opportunity to demonstrate they have increased their
knowledge, skills, and or concepts from their previous assessment.
In
other words, if you put in the effort you can improve your grade and learn more
of the material that you are being assessed on.
Learning takes time, and for each individual
the amount of time varies. After two years of piloting the new grading
procedures in various schools in our district, C-FB has now adopted the grading
procedures district wide.
What does that mean for the Creekview
students?
It means that the important concepts that you
are being asked to learn and master on summative assignments will now have an
asterisk by them. If you score below an 85 and meet the reassessment procedures
for that assessment, you have the opportunity to improve your grade up to an
85. Let me remind you, this is not about the grade so much as it is about the
learning or mastery of the subject matter. (You and your parents may think
differently)
How will a second or third chance impact you
as the learner?
Life is about choices. You can choose to
ignore the opportunity to reassess or you can meet the conditions needed for
the reassessment to occur and try again for a grade up to an 85. Responsibility
for your learning is really on you, whether it is the first assessment or an
additional assessment given at a later time. Sometimes, we all need a second or
third chance in life to get it right and to learn more!
Why do we want to give our students reassessment
opportunities?
A principle of learning is that learning
takes time. For all of the conspiracy theorists out there the real reason for
the change in our grading procedures is that we want each of our students to
have an opportunity (if they so choose) to be able to learn the material that
your teachers are asking you to learn.
At Creekview, so many of our students have
learned the material, and have learned it well. Our SAT and ACT scores are the
highest in the district. Our scores on these same tests actually beat the state
average and yes, even the national average! In addition to this you may have
seen our ERG (Educational Resource Group) scores and ranking from last year as
I have celebrated our student’s remarkable accomplishment of being ranked #3 in
the state when compared to the 200 largest schools in our great state. This
ranking is based on passing rate on state assessments, the commended rate on
the state assessments, ACT & SAT scores, and our graduation rate.
The grading procedures that have been piloted
in our district are refined and are in place now for you. The reassessment
procedures are there to do nothing more than to help you learn the material at
even higher levels of mastery…that is if you need it and if you choose to take
advantage of it.
Choose
wisely, show some grit, and continue to do great things as Creekview High
School Mustangs!!
Sincerely,
Your Honored Principal,
Mr. LaPuma
“Offer the Best, Expect the Best, Be the
Best”
