Empowering personal growth and honorable contributions of all Knights
January 2017
Dear parents,
The principal reason for contacting you at this point is to explain the changes that will be coming
(many of which have already been implemented) this semester. Some of these are normal - tweaks
to existing policies or modifications that reflect the demands of the second semester - but many are
ones that I have implemented after a long, critical, and honest appraisal of my own grading policies
and finding them to be lacking in many areas. The changes that perhaps your students have already
mentioned to you and that I shall outline below are my best effort to refocus student effort on
learning and for this to be reflected in their grades. So, without further ado, here are the changes.
1. The establishment of a new category in the grade book, Practice and Preparation, whose
assignments do not impact your child's overall grade in the class. The assignments will still be
graded and recorded so that you, your child, and I can track your child's progress, but these
assignments are usually designed with an end goal in mind. Athletes don't gain points during practice,
so neither will my students. Included in this will be the vast majority of quizzes and homework
assignments.
2. In general, where students have been assessed multiple times on the same standard, the highest or
most recent score (or scores) on an assignment will be the one that counts towards a student's overall
grade. This helps avoid penalizing students who learn more slowly and encourages them to seek
improvement in the knowledge that they can get an A even if their first effort at mastering a skill is
unsuccessful. Provided they have given it their best effort, students should be able to fail at the first
attempt without fear of it affecting their grade. How else are we going to encourage failure and
growth?
3. Since a student's grade will not be directly impacted by poor or missing coursework, I will be much
more aggressive and direct when it comes to dealing with students missing assignments or doing
poorly on quizzes. With much more riding on assessments, expect me to intervene more intensively
when I feel a student is falling behind. With no easy points to pad or inflate their grades, students
will really have to focus on the learning each assignment requires, rather than seeking to get the
highest possible grade.
4. Students will still be permitted to submit all writing and in class assignments late without penalty
and will be able to edit and resubmit work. The same will now apply for homework. I will now no
1615 W San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos, CA 92078 760-290-2200 ● fax: 760-736-8275
Empowering personal growth and honorable contributions of all Knights
longer issue punitive grades (zeroes or half credit) for late homework. However, in order to make
sure that work is submitted in a timely manner ( to make my grading schedule more bearable), I will
only allow students to resubmit improved work if it was submitted on time in the first place.
You may (or may not) be pleased to know that I do not plan to change neither my instructional model
nor my approach to English. I do, however, want students to learn for the sake of learning and not
for the sake of gaining points. I realise that this will be a difficult transition for many students, but
this is the direction education is going in. Ultimately, we as teachers are more concerned about what
the students learn and what they can do. Deadlines, habits, effort, and following rules are important,
and I plan to help students cultivate them, but they have little place in the assessment of learning.
What will this look like? I have attached a more detailed breakdown of the assessment process and
how a student's overall grade is calculated. You will actually probably see more assignments and
scores in the grade book than you did last year so that you can keep tabs on your child's progress. At
home, I hope that this will result in lower anxiety, less obsession with grades, and more focus on
learning and improvement. I'll be honest with you: I'm not entirely sure what this is going to look like
at times. All I know is that after 12 and a half years, I have had a profound realization that I have
unknowingly been doing a lot of things wrong when it comes to my grade book.
Here's what I need from you: open and honest dialogue when you have concerns. Please ask
questions. I have anticipated a few (including those I have wrestled with myself) and I have included
those below.
1. If quizzes and other homework assignments don't count, how are you going to motivate
students? The same way I have always tried to motivate students - by making them understand that
there is inherent value in learning and that what they are learning is important. Too many of my
students have been motivated by the fear of failure. I feel that this shift will enable them to feel
empowered by the prospect of real success.
2. How do you plan to hold students accountable for failing to adhere to deadlines or for failing to do
work? For the first homework assignment of the semester, I spoke directly to the handful of students
who did not get it done. Almost all of them brought the assignment, completed, the next day, and
every single student did the assignment eventually. That's what I want. Simply punishing students by
giving them half credit or a zero in the gradebook absolves me of the responsibility to actually talk to
the students in person. Additionally, students’ timeliness and organization will factor into their
1615 W San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos, CA 92078 760-290-2200 ● fax: 760-736-8275
Empowering personal growth and honorable contributions of all Knights
citizenship grades.
3. Isn't it possible that students who do very little work can get the same grade as students who work
exceptionally hard as long as they do well on the big assessmen ts? But isn't that unfair? Yes, this
could happen. No, it is not unfair. Students who demonstrate mastery in a concept or skill should not
have to do any extra work. Students who have not yet mastered the skill should need to do more
practice. It's logical. I have had lots of students who mastered all standards but got B's in the class
because they failed to complete menial assignments that they saw no need to do. I have, conversely,
had average students get A's because they fastidiously did all the work I asked them. Both examples
give a misleading picture of a student's academic aptitude. Grades should be based on mastery and
improvement.
So there you have it. Education is changing, and I feel that good teachers constantly reflect and seek
to refine their practice. I hope you don't feel that I am "moving the goalposts" halfway through the
school year. I feel it would be worse to stick with the status quo, given what is at stake here. I am
confident that your child will have a better experience in my class as a result, and that - most
importantly - he or she will learn more! Education is a calling, and I take my responsibility to my
students very seriously indeed. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to do what I do, and I hope you
feel that you can be partners with me as we seek to guide our precious youth.
With best wishes to you all,
Mr. St. John.
1615 W San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos, CA 92078 760-290-2200 ● fax: 760-736-8275