So, it’s August.

I’m back at school. The kids come tomorrow. I feel pretty solid about having my checklist of to-do items in a manageable state. This has left me time for pondering (ruminating on…?) the end of the semester.

Yes. The semester that ends in December. I swear to God, if you tell me I’ve got too much time on my hands or that I need to increase my Prozac dose, I will cut you. Even if it’s true. But I digress.

I’ve got ELA3 and ELA4 this year (juniors and seniors). It’s the first time in my career that I haven’t had a freshman class, which is pretty surreal (in a delightful way). Freshmen are immature, hot messes. However, the Big Kids come with a whole other set of issues, the most prevalent of which is apathy. I don’t teach the honors/AP kids. I’ve just got regular old juniors and seniors, along with some co-taught classes with Continuing-Teacher-Partner Claire. You’d think they’d be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and be motivated to shut up and do whatever it took to graduate and get out. You would be wrong…at least for some of them.

My building, like many of yours, is feeling pressure to improve graduation rates. We were at something like 92% last year, which is pretty good. However, compared to other high schools in my district, this is low. As in any school, there are myriad factors contributing to that 8% of kids who aren’t graduating, but this post isn’t about those factors. This post is about end of semester wheeling and dealing in order for students to “demonstrate mastery” (i.e. pass, even if they haven’t done anything all semester).

The whole “What Can They Do to Demonstrate Mastery?” question (posed by admin, on behalf of the superintendent and school board) gives me confused feels. On one hand, I see the point in saying “if they can prove they know the content, they should pass.” On the other, I feel a sense of nauseous guilt that this ideology isn’t exactly preparing them for the reality of a job that gives no fucks about what you can do if you can’t do it when they tell you to. But, once again, I digress. This isn’t a post about the ethics of credit recovery.

So, what IS this about?

It’s about planning for plan B starting on the first day of the semester. Good Lord, I know some people are going to be absolutely horrified by this, but I’m doing it anyway. As I wrote my syllabi, I decided to add a section on credit recovery. Instead of waiting for kids to cut a deal with an administrator in December to contract for a 59.5%, I wanted to look long and hard at the minimum competency standards and set out my own criteria for what “showing mastery” is. *The normal caveats for students with IEPs or other extenuating circumstances apply; I’m talking about the kid who slept or skipped all semester and then wants to magically receive credit.

Remember. I’m not talking about contracting for an A. Or a B. Or even a C. No…this is a Hail Mary pass to contract for the absolute minimum passing grade. After really looking at CCCS and my district’s standards, this is what I came up with and put in my syllabi:

CREDIT RECOVERY (MINIMUM COMPETENCY)

It is always our goal as teachers to encourage students to engage fully in class and to complete all assignments on time and to the best of their ability. However, adolescents are still learning about time management and responsible decision making. Occasionally, a student will find themselves failing the course and will require an alternative pathway to passing/receiving credit. A student who has fallen far behind in the course (without exceptional extenuating circumstances such as a family crisis, hospitalization, etc.) may complete the following competency-based measures to earn a grade of 60% (D) for the semester:

Semester 1

1. One, four-paragraph personal narrative writing with a composite score of 70% or better. The student must choose one of the topics assigned during the narrative writing unit. Evidence of planning/drafting should be available upon request.
2. One, four-paragraph literary analysis (argumentative) essay with a composite score of 70% or better. The student must utilize materials and texts assigned during the argumentative writing unit. Evidence of planning/drafting should be available upon request.
3. Completion of five Interview Savvy bellwork prompts with 70% or better composite accuracy.

Semester 2

1. One, four-paragraph informational writing with a composite score of 70% or better. The student must choose one of the topics assigned during the informational writing unit. Evidence of planning/drafting should be available upon request.
2. One, four-paragraph literary analysis (argumentative) essay with a composite score of 70% or better. The student must utilize materials and texts assigned during the argumentative writing unit. Evidence of planning/drafting should be available upon request.
3. Completion of five Interview Savvy bell work prompts with 70% or better composite accuracy.

Credit recovery work is due prior to the start of final exams for that semester.

I really, really, really hope I am supported by the powers that be in these criteria. I also really, really, really hope having this plan laid out in my syllabi doesn’t read as being negative and thinking kids are destined to fail. It has occurred to me that there are some kids who are going to look at this and decide to knock it all out in the first month of school so they can coast. Honestly? If they CAN do that, we should probably be looking at putting them in a more challenging class. I guess I’ll move forward with it and see how it goes. Followup coming in December. Stay tuned…

Keywords: secondary ELA, minimum competency, competency based assessment, credit recovery, syllabi, start of the school year, standards based assessment