assessment, evaluation, & grading

The Secondary Block is a professional preparation course that leads toward certification to teach at the Secondary level (grades 7-12). Therefore, the course is not organized like typical courses at Hope College. You will be actively involved throughout the semester in assignments, class activities, uses of technology and field placement participation that will require you to show what you are learning and the skills that you are developing through "reading, writing, speaking, listening, and visually representing." These are the dimensions of Literacy that Michigan requires all secondary teachers to promote in their own classrooms.

The Block is also designed around Michigan Certication Standards: Entry-Level Teaching, Secondary Reading, and Technology.

Assessments will be based on Quality Criteria applied to Products, Performances, and Presentations. An easy way to get an overview of what this will mean for you is to examine the Course "Quality" Rubrics. Points will be allotted for "Excellent" (5), "Proficient" (4), "Developing Proficiency" (3-2) and "Unsatisfactory" (1). Rubrics are intended to set quality performance standards, thereby allowing you to know in advance what you have to do to achieve the desired level of evaluation. Rubrics clarify expectations and help you know how to do a careful job in your response to assignments. This provides you with both personal and professional opportunities to take responsibility for your own learning.

Final grades in the course (ed 285 and ed 287) and in the placement (ed 287) will be determined from the total of numerical scores earned over the semester. The following percentage scale will be used on the total points to determine the grade which will stand as a record of the total professional effort.

Please note: As of December 2000 the Education Department adopted a policy that any student who received below a C+ grade in an Education course would not be allowed to continue in the sequence toward certification.