B. Grades

expected to meet with their Class Dean and the Director of Studies to make a plan and timeline for completing all outstanding requirements.

Students receive letter grades on a scale of A to F for work completed in all academic classes, and they receive grades of P(ass) or F(ail) for their Physical Education, Human Development, College and Community, and Immersive requirements. Students are not given grades for their Community Engagement hours. For academic classes, a grade of D is considered a passing mark, but it is not necessarily sufficient for promotion. Please consult the Branson Curriculum Guide for details about prerequisites for promotion.

The symbols used in grading are as follows:

“A” - The student’s work embodies a creative spirit, exhibits command of the content, and proficient communication of the ideas discussed..

“B” The student’s work exhibits an understanding of the course content and clear communication of the ideas discussed.

“C” The student’s work exhibits inconsistent understanding of the content and partial communication of the ideas discussed.

“D” The student’s work reveals a problematic understanding of the content and significant difficulty communicating of the ideas discussed.

“F” The student’s work exhibits no understanding of the content and a failure to communicate the ideas discussed. An “F” grade at Branson is also usually the result of a significant amount of missing or unfinished work. Rarely do students who complete all work in a course receive an “F.

Teachers are experts in assessing the quality of student work in the contexts of the class, the discipline, the school, the department, and the teacher’s experience, and a teacher’s assessment of student work is authoritative. While we are always happy to discuss a student’s development, or to correct a computational or clerical error, we will not negotiate grades.

It is, of course, the responsibility of faculty members to explain both the school’s standards and their own policies and decisions. Discussing the teacher’s evaluation of a student’s work is another opportunity for the student to learn. Those conversations are very different from arguments about the number of points awarded or whether a paper deserves an A- rather than a B+ . Again, we are always happy to help students learn the difference between a growth and fixed mindset in relation to their performance.

Branson Grading Scale

Below is a summary of the scale used at Branson to convert grade percentages into corresponding letter grades.

Letter Grade % is Greater Than or Equal To

A+

A

At teacher’s discretion (see below) 92

A- 88

B+ 84

B 80

BC+ C CD F 77 74 70 67 60 0 % is Less Than

At teacher’s discretion (see below) 100 92 88 84 80 77 74 70 67 60

Explaining the “A+” : The A+ grade may be given at the discretion of the teacher for outstanding work that demonstrates independent thought, critical reflection, extraordinary classroom presence, and mastery of the subject. To receive an A+ a student must demonstrate complete command of the subject and considerable originality. Such performance exceeds the highest expectations, is exceptionally well done and presented, and done without errors/mistakes. The A+ cannot be achieved with extra credit or as a result of make-up work/assessment.

Other Grades

In addition to the letter grades shown above, Branson supports several other grades and grade indicators.

Inc. - Incomplete

If the end of a grading period arrives and a student has not been able to finish all of the work for a course due to illness, emergency or some other circumstance, the teacher may elect to give the student a grade of Incomplete (Inc.). If a teacher elects to give a grade of Incomplete, the

teacher will also work with the student to create a plan and deadlines for completing any outstanding work. If the student does not meet that deadline, they will not receive credit for any work not completed and their grade will be determined accordingly. Though deadlines may vary, an Incomplete grade may not extend past the end of the next grading period. Adjustments may be made if the Incomplete is in connection with a leave of absence. A grade of Inc. is temporary, and must be resolved to a letter grade once the student has either turned in or failed to turn in outstanding assignments.

IP - In Progress

It sometimes happens that a student is in a class at the end of a marking period and the teacher feels that the student simply does not have enough assignments in their record to give them a meaningful grade. This commonly occurs when a student switches from an honors math class to a regular math class late in the marking period and has not been present for many assessments, or when a student goes on a leave or has an extended absence and has been excused from a number of assignments. In such cases, it will be possible to calculate a grade in the future as more work is turned in, so a grade calculation is “in progress, ” but there is no way to give the student a grade for that particular marking period. Their report card will reflect an IP instead.

P - Passing

In rare cases, a student may take an academic course on a pass/fail basis rather than receiving a letter grade (See “Taking a Course for a Grade of Pass or Fail” below for guidelines). In such cases, a P indicates that the student passed the course and successfully completed all of the course requirements. Note that all Human Development, Immersive, and Physical Education requirements are graded on a pass/fail basis.

W/P - Withdraw/Passing

In very rare circumstances a student may choose to drop a course after the end of the add-drop period even though they are passing the class. In such cases, their transcript will show a W/P to indicate that the student withdrew from the course and had a passing grade at the time of the withdrawal.

W - Withdraw

In cases where a student has a failing grade in a course and decides to withdraw from it after the end of the add-drop period, their transcript will show a W to indicate that the student had a failing grade at the time of the withdrawal.

Student Progress Reports

Progress reports are sent home four times a year: in the middle and at the end of each semester. Written comments for each student are included with the mid-semester grades.

Objectives-Based Grading (OBG)

In 9th grade core classes, (Dance I, Music And Performance, Beginning Acting, Survey Of Visual Arts, English I, Modern World History, Mandarin I, Spanish I, Algebra I, and Physics I) students receive OBG-style feedback in the first semester, and then both OBG feedback and traditional grades in the second semester. OBG uses language instead of numbers to articulate student performance. Rather than offering students a traditional numerical grade on assessments, OBG utilizes learning objectives and rubrics so that students have a clear map of their performance on an assessment. A rubric is an evaluation guide that uses performance criteria and a rating scale to give students feedback on their work.

OBG offers a more equitable 9th grade experience for all of our students, and helps students be less outcome-focused and more process-focused from the start of their high school careers. Every OBG course is guided by a series of learning objectives (usually around 20): some objectives are yearlong and aspirational, some more concrete and specific. These objectives are evaluated on a four-level verbal scale (again, there are no numbers in OBG): beginning, developing, proficient, advanced. The goal for every student is to reach the “proficient” level of every objective by the end of the year: the advanced level allows motivated students to work beyond the course’s expectations. Students receive multiple reassessment opportunities for every objective.

In the second semester, the calculations to a letter grade follow this rough guideline:

● Mostly proficient objectives (roughly 80% proficient and greater): A range ● Many proficient objectives (roughly 50% proficient and greater): B range ● Mostly developing in objectives (fewer than 50% proficient and lower): C range

● No proficient objectives: D range

These categories are deliberately broad so that individual teachers have the ability to ensure that students receive the most accurate and appropriate grade for their work in the course while also agreeing across disciplines to a unifying standard.

Grade Point Averages (GPA’s)

GPA’s for students appear on the Branson transcript and are computed using a standard unweighted averaging of the letter grades a student has received in their Branson academic