Course Pacing Policy
Course Pacing Policy
Each online course has a specific, defined time frame for each term including dates for midway/midterm and finals. Students are required to complete the course within the defined term. Students can determine their own time to work on class assignments each week, but they need to complete the prescribed coursework for each week as laid out in the pacing chart. If a student becomes ill or has an extended absence, the instructor will need to be contacted immediately. The instructor can assist the student by creating a new pacing guide to help the student catch up with work. Grades, as adjusted to the course pacing guide, are recorded on PowerSchool regularly. Keeping pace will ensure the most accurate grade. Students will have a regular progress grade put into PowerSchool that reflects the grade on assignments that should have been completed at this point in the term. Progress grades for courses taken outside of Ann Arbor Public Schools may have less frequent but regular progress updates in PowerSchool. While students are not penalized for submitting work late, in most classes, they could receive other penalties which can include, but not exclude, not being on the honor roll and not being allowed to play for a school team. (AP classes do have specific due dates and late penalties that do apply.) If, at the end of the term, the student needs up to a two-week extension, they should contact the instructor one week before the end of the term. To receive permission for an extension, the student must meet the requirements as laid out in our policy (see Extension Policy Procedures). Extensions will not be granted to students who procrastinate and are not consistently working in the course and/or students who do not take their proctored tests in a timely fashion, as listed on the class/term calendar. The parent/guardian and student should work with the instructor to ensure that the student is properly paced. The only exception to the time frame laid out in the pacing policy is for students enrolled in grades 5-8 who participate in the online accelerated math competency-based mastery program. These students are held to the math acceleration guidelines.
While we expect students to submit course work regularly throughout the term and stay within the pacing guide, this does not always happen. In most courses, but not all check instructor grading page, students can turn in work late without penalty. During the last three weeks of the course, teachers usually have an unusually high workload and it will take longer to return work. If students are submitting a large quantity of late work, they are not likely to have it returned before the end of the course nor will they be able to make corrections.