Parent & Student Handbook, 2013-2014 - Tandem Friends School

27
3. The Academic Committee will not act on a waiver request until testing is completed, a written report has been
sent to the school, and the Director of the Learning Resource Center or another qualified staff member has read
the report.
4. The Academic Committee chair informs the teacher of the relevant class in which the student is currently
enrolled, and the department chair, that a waiver has been requested.
5. A meeting of the Academic Committee is scheduled to consider the request. The current teacher is invited to
attend. The Upper School Director, the Director of the Learning Resource Center, and the department chair must
be present at the meeting. The goal of the meeting is to arrive at consensus, which is defined as all present are in
agreement, or any individuals disagreeing with the majority opinion agree to “step aside” to allow the decision to
go forward.
6. If the Committee cannot arrive at consensus, then the matter will be referred to the Head of School, who will
make an informed decision.
7. The Academic Committee chair is responsible for communicating the results of the decision, in writing, to the
parents. A copy of the letter is placed in the student’s file. The chair also informs the student and the current
teacher.
Grading
The focus of our grading system is to assess student growth and provide feedback to students to help them continue
to perform at their highest level.
Teachers and/or academic advisors inform parents at any time they feel a student’s work warrants parental
notification, through the use of an Academic Update notification, e­mail, phone call, or face­to­face conversation.
Tandem Friends has a two­semester academic year, and formal assessments are provided quarterly through teacherwritten
comments for all students in all subjects. Grades are issued at this time as well.
Midterm grades are interim grades. They are intended to inform students and parents about current
levels of achievement, and do not become part of a student’s permanent record. During a student’s
senior year, both fall midterm and first­semester grades are sent to colleges as part of the student’s application.
Only final grades become part of a student’s permanent record and appear on transcripts issued by the school. In the
Upper School, they are the basis for awarding credits toward a diploma, for meeting distribution requirements, and
for computing grade point averages used in college admissions.
The grading scale used is as follows:
A: Honors ­ indicates consistently excellent effort, outstanding quality of work, and mastery of material.
B: indicates consistent effort, consistent completion of work, and good progress toward learning goals.
C: indicates acceptable effort and/or progress, but probably some need for improvement.
D: indicates below­average effort and/or progress. In math and foreign languages, a student will have to repeat the
course before moving to the next level.
F: Fail ­ indicates failure to meet the course requirements, and student will have to repeat course.
"Kindness and Wisdom, with Kindness Always First"