After AT implemented a policy around no extra credit at the beginning of the school year, concerns and confusion regarding the policy caused administration to revisit and revise the circumstances behind no extra credit.
Starting this year, AT admintsration changed around an array of new grading policies which kicked off the school year with some concerns. Among these many new policies there was one that banned the use of extra credit.
This ban on extra credit caused talk among both students and teachers about what this meant for grades and the use of known standard extra cedit opportunities that certain courses were accustomed to having.
The original goal of the polices regarding no extra credit was to reduce inequity between students and get rid of extra credit such as going to events, and bringing things in for the class, as some students may not have the ability to do that. Though with the goal of removing the inequities that some extra credit may have, extra credit that was curriculum based was also thrown out.
With there being many extra cedit opportunites many teachers used that did revolve around the curriculum at hand, administration looked again at the extra credit policy they initiated this year.
While reconsidering what this policy truly means, the adminstration was able to alter the language used throughout the policy, with the goal of clearing all confusion it may have brought at the beginning of the year.
“The intent of the policy on extra credit was to remove nonacidemic way for students to alter of raise their grades in class,” said AT principal Jack Andrews. “For example, bringing a box of Kleenex, attending an extracurricular event, should not affect a students grade. Rather a student should be given opportunities to help their grades or improve their grades through academic options.”
This new rewritten policy was used as a way to help clarify what extra credit meant, with the intent of removing non academic ways for students to earn extra credit.
There is still a large amount of encouragement within the policy for teachers to provide extra credit opportuinies that allow students to engage with the curriculum of the course that they are taking.
“We stiil want to provide way of if you want to interact with the curriculum more, flashcards, study guides, writing a paper, verbal defense of your papers, just different things that in different departments they can provide,” said Andrews.
After the policy was revised there are classes that are now able to reinstate extra credit, this included classes like AP Language and Composition where students are now able to do vocabulary flashcards before they take their vocabulary tests as a way to earn extra credit.
Among the look at the extra credit policy, administration also looked at other things, such as final exams at the end of the semester. With the previous few semesters having a final weight of 10 percent compared to the pre-covid weight of 20 percent, questions have risen about what should be done. There is now a discussion regarding final exam weight among administration, on whether final exams should be weights at 10 percent, 20 percent, or if they should meet in the middle.
As the school year progresses these policy changes will contiune to go through trial and error stages as adminstrations works toward achieving policies they see fit for the school.
