Selections on Grading and GPA

From the LOA Student / Parent Handbook, 2007

Section II: Academic Program

Grading Policy

Live Oak Academy provides two grade reports per academic year. The first is mailed in February, following the end of the first semester. The second is mailed in June, following the end of the second semester. The grade reports may consist of letter grades and/or descriptive evaluations at the discretion of the teacher according to the following policy and grading scale:

Grades K-5: Evaluation is mandatory; grades are optional.

Grades 6-8: Evaluation and grades are mandatory.

Grades 9-12: Grades are mandatory; evaluation is optional.

Grade

Grade Point

Assessment

93 – 100 %

90 – 92 %

87 – 89 %

83 – 86%

80 – 82 %

77 – 79%

73 – 76 %

70 – 72 %

60 – 69 %

0 – 59%

A-

B+

B-

C+

C-

4.0

3.7

3.3

3.0

2.7

2.3

2.0

1.7

1.0

Outstanding

Excellent

Satisfactory

Needs Improvement

Failing

Note: In compliance with common college admissions office practice, for transcript purposes no pluses or minuses are used with letter grades, and only whole number grade points are assigned.

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High School Graduation Requirements

Credits and Grading - A college preparatory class is defined to confer six credits per year, or three per semester. Occasionally, a class may confer a different number of credits, if the Headmaster determines that it is significantly heavier or lighter than a standard class. This system is approximately consistent with those in use at many colleges.

Grading is on a four point scale, with letter grades A, B, C, D, or F being worth 4, 3, 2, 1, or zero grade points, respectively; plus or minus marks change the grade by one-quarter of a point in either direction. A failing grade (“F”, which usually corresponds to a percentage grade of 60% or lower) will prevent the student from acquiring course credits; otherwise full credits are conferred regardless of grade.

Some courses may be available with a pass/fail grading option, at the discretion of the administration and the teacher. If the student succeeds, the teacher will give a mark of “Pass”. Otherwise, a failure will be treated as a letter grade “F”.

The Academy will accept credits and grades for equivalent courses taken at accredited schools. Course work at home, if carefully documented, may be accepted. Academy department chairs, working with the Headmaster, must determine that the work is consistent with the Academy’s educational goals. In some cases they may also require testing or “catch-up” work.

Grades for college-level courses taken during high school may be accepted by the Academy. At the Academy’s discretion, these grades may contribute a higher level of points. For example, a college “A” is often worth 5 grade points instead of 4.

If a teacher cannot assign a grade at the end of a term because of missing work, the class will be marked “Incomplete” until the student finishes the work, or the teacher stops extending grace and assigns a final grade. If a class is dropped part way through the term, no credits are conferred and no grade is recorded.

These numeric values are used to compute an overall grade point average (GPA), by multiplying each class grade by the number of class units, summing the total, and dividing by the total number of graded units. Classes marked “Pass” or “Incomplete” do not take part in the computation of GPA.