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Proposal to establish an after-school or advisory period study-hall

Presenting Problem: some students do not complete assignments on time. 
We want them to complete the assignments as soon as possible.
Another related issue is that of providing ever-more-accurate and timely feedback on student performance.

Let’s focus first on simply Missing assignments:
Let’s define them as Assignments not received by the previously-specified due-date.
The assignments and their due-dates were duly registered in Renweb.
The teacher has marked the assignments in the (Renweb) gradebook with a grade of “M”.  (In the case of a Moodle assignment, the moodle-interface will not automatically place any letter, but it will automatically update the cell when the teacher marks a numeric grade on that student’s assignment record. )

What can we do to reduce the number of missing assignments; to get students to complete work on time?

Our goal is of course for all students to do all work on time, to the best of their abilities.  In truth, most teachers regularly experience circumstances wherein assignments are not completed by the end of the grading-period, which they may count as zero or may exempt completely from calculation.  Part of this decision may represent standard professional judgement; part of it may simply be expeditious or random, lacking policy guidance and lacking alternatives beyond occasional exhortations and threats of zero marks.  We can reduce the number of Incompletes and improve report-card accuracy by starting a mandatory study hall.   It will also ease all teachers’ lives, as tracking incomplete assignments and then grading them reliably though they are weeks apart takes time that would be better spent on new lessons and direct instruction.

A pure market-driven approach — deducting points from the gradebook — is easier to track, but it places responsibility in the hands of children.  The fact that we still have Missing assignments indicates that not all children are as responsible as we would hope, so adults need to act, taking some responsibility on ourselves in a way that can more directly solve the original problem.

We can create a time and place where students will focus on completing the missing assignment: the Missing Study Hall!  the term Incomplete Study Hall is probably catchier yet still appropriate.   Given the American penchant for aspirational terminology, we could name it Completion Study Hall  or Completing Study Hall

Possible approaches:
1- on a given day, teachers send HSoffice a list of names, candidates for the Incomplete Study Hall.  Likely the list should include the description of the incomplete assignment.
2- students could choose to check themselves in to the study hall in order to self-correct, to complete the work in an environment conducive to study, where a teacher could assist.
3- A semi-automated way that would relieve teachers and student of the burden of reporting:  Let the Registrar produce a report of all assignment items in the current Quarter that have a value = “M”:  list student name, gradelevel, classname, term, teacher name, and Assignment name, description, due-date, and max-pts.  (We may want to exclude assignments with max-pts less than 10?  Are those too small to worry about?)
3a- HSOffice runs this MissingAssignment report on, say Tuesday morning (thus giving students and teachers time to update assignments and gradebook over the weekend).  Send out notices to all students (and their respective teachers) to students on the list, mandating their attendance at after-school study-hall Wednesday, 3:20 to 4:20pm. 
Ideally the renweb report produces a file or list that renweb itself can use in its e-mail function, so this notification could easily go to Student and Custody, thus notifying parents as well.  If any special exemptions are to be made, there is time overnight Tuesday to work them out (time for teacher or student or parent to appeal the mandated study-hall requirement).

This mandatory study hall will surely inconvenience students, parents, teachers, and coaches.
The point of this time is to indicate that our school’s priority is on completing assignments well, following schedules, respecting the framework and our classmates;  we trust it will naturally encourage students to pay better attention to future assignment due-dates, and thus become less necessary!
Thus, any exemptions should be carefully scrutinized by the principal.

This mandated-study-hall approach should answer the many reasons, and allow for occasional adjustments — it will also encourage us to keep the gradebook more accurate and up-to-date if there is a specific and reliable administrative response to the presence of “M” or “I” in the gradebook.
Reasons for missing assignments: 
    1)    student forgets to do the work
    2)    student does not care
    3)    student lacks a quiet place to concentrate on it
    4)    student does not know about its existence
    5)    student does not know the details of the assignment
    6)    student does not know the subject matter
    7)    student does not understand the mechanics of the assignment (what tools to use, etc)
    8)    student has not completed prerequisite work, so is not ready for this assignment
    9)    student was absent when the assignment was announced in class
    10)    student was asleep when the assignment was announced in class
    11)    student does not understand the due-date, thought there was more time available
    12)    student does not understand the details of the assignment, so did nothing
    13)    student was occupied in legitimately-excusable alternate activity, thus unable to complete the work on time
    14)    student’s dog ate the homework; or computer crashed, etc.
    15)    teacher made a mistake, recorded the grade incorrectly
    16)    teacher does not clearly advertise the assignment due-date



When and where would this study hall take place? 
This could be treated like other shared teacher-duties, would depend on the number of students—admin could selectively limit the number to a manageable level.   Assuming 1 teacher could host 20 students in a classroom.   Rotate the assignment, publish the information well in advance.   The teacher would however be more than a custodian — would need to actively help students complete the specific assignment, as often the cause of non-completion is misunderstanding and inability to frame the response or get started.  Teacher would need to check with each student.

The purpose of this study hall raises a touchy question about the time requirement.  As the study hall is designed solely to enforce work on an incomplete assignment, can the student declare the assignment completed in 10 minutes, and leave?  Who decides whether the assignment is completed sufficiently?  This may need to be explicitly left to the careful scrutiny of the teacher on duty.  Although students with Missing assignments typically have additional study needs, this particular requirement is purposely focused on the Missing Assignment.  It is sometimes possible that ten minutes of focused effort can complete an assignment properly.  If students can explain the original assignment and demonstrate its completion to the satisfaction of the teacher on duty, then they may excused.    Correspondingly, however, the study hall must necessarily end at a specified time, whether the original assignment is completed or not.   We trust the student will then be focused and enabled to complete the assignment later that day, and not need to return the following week!

This study-hall could become a model for a related issue:  academic probation or “contract”, or that of students in academic difficulties, based on grades or other criteria.  However, it may be best to keep focus on assignments rather than overall grades, in order to reduce the stigma of this particular study hall.   We would likely want to establish an Academic Probation study hall of another sort, that might provide more general assistance (or not) to students with general issues, and might include workshops on study skills, time-management, etc.   They could involve — or be the full responsibility of — the Student Learning Center.   This could also include even more support and thus place those students in the category of those requiring Learning Support (extra charge), meaning extra time spent by both student and YISS staff.

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