Background

Submitting assignments timely and correctly is an essential part of grading standards for academic credit. It is also vital preparation for college, career, and civic responsibility. TPS’s assignment policy is intended to be simple, equitable, gracious, and efficient for promoting learning and good grades.

• Students are expected to submit assignments correctly and timely (on or before the Due Date). Standard reasonable daily lateness penalties are applied to evaluative assignments (e.g., essays, projects, labs, exams, quizzes).
  
• Even with reasonable planning and preventative measures, lateness is sometimes unavoidable and unpreventable. Lateness penalty may be waived if the lateness is entirely unavoidable and unpreventable.
  
• Extended absences (e.g., due to illness, hospitalization, or bereavement) are handled through a Humanitarian Leave process that temporarily suspends attendance and assignments (and does not involve negotiating individual class absences or assignment extensions).
  
• Proctored exams promote student readiness, reduce student errors, and improve learning and grades. They also engage parents in a crucial part of the student’s education. TPS requires all High School and Middle School course exams to be proctored under our guidelines for a course to receive credit and a final grade. Some Elementary courses may use proctored exams to provide oversight for the student, but the proctor process is not considered in the grading.
  
• Submitting documents that cannot be evaluated by the teacher (e.g., due to file type, content, or format) is entirely avoidable and preventable. TPS provides means to verify and correct a submitted document immediately after submitting it. A document which cannot be evaluated is scored as a zero. A resubmit may be offered with a grade penalty.
  
• Some assignments ("AT" assignments) are scored automatically without teacher review, with some answers made available immediately after submitting the assignment. Submitting incomplete or incorrect auto-scored ("AT") assignments is entirely avoidable and preventable. TPS AT assignments require two-step confirmation prior to starting the assignment. Answers are recorded on the server, not the student's computer, so the assignment may be resumed immediately even after browser reload or computer reboot. There is no routine process for resetting or resubmitting an AT assignment.
  

Due Dates and Timeliness

• Timeliness. Students are expected to submit assignments correctly and timely (on or before the Due Date).
  
• Extensions. No extension request will be considered. There is no process for requesting an advance extension on an assignment.
  
  • If an extension request can be anticipated and planned, then the assignment workload, completion, and submission process can be similarly anticipated and planned to submit assignments before due dates or accept the reasonable late penalties.
    
  • The most common reasons for requesting advance extension are travel, major events, or high workload. These potential conflicts are derived from discretionary choices and may be managed by planning for and around the assignment due dates.
    
  • Inability to submit an assignment on time due to unforeseeable, unavoidable, and unpreventable matters (e.g., sudden illness or hospitalization) is considered under the Lateness Penalty Waiver or Humanitarian Academic Leave processes below.
    
• Lateness Penalty
  
  • Assignments may be submitted up to five days (120 hours) late. After 120 hours, the assignment is scored as a Zero and may not be submitted. (If a document is submitted after 120 hours late, it will be scored as zero without evaluation or feedback.)
    
  • For High School and Middle Schools courses, a Lateness Penalty of 10% per day will be applied by the teacher to documents submitted late, with a Zero grade after five days (120 hours). For calculation purposes, Day 1 (10%) starts at the due date and time, Day 2 starts 24 hours after the due date, etc.
    
  • There is no Lateness Penalty for Elementary School course assignments. However, any document submitted after five days (120 hours) late will be scored as zero and not evaluated.
    
  • For two-part exams that have a document and an AT portion, the two parts are intended to be completed and submitted together as one assignment. Any Lateness Penalty will be applied to both parts equally based on the time of the last part submitted.
    
• Lateness Penalty Waiver. A waiver of Lateness Penalty may be provided by the teacher for lateness within five days (120 hours) that is entirely unavoidable and unpreventable by reasonable planning and measures.
  
  • "Entirely unavoidable and unpreventable lateness" covers matters such as sudden illness or injury or family emergency where the assignment is submitted as soon as reasonably possible and within the five days.
    
  • "Entirely unavoidable and unpreventable lateness" does not cover discretionary plans (e.g., travel) or matters that were reasonably avoidable or preventable (e.g., tech issues).
    
  • Technical or Technology Issues
    
    • Local technical or technology issues are readily avoidable or easily overcome, and are generally not considered a basis for waiver of Lateness Penalty.
      
    • Documents in progress should be saved frequently. Saving draft versions with different names (e.g., include the date and time in the name) is helpful for archiving past work without overwriting it.
      
    • Documents should be saved to a cloud folder or drive (e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive), not just the local device drive. This allows quick recovery from a hardware failure.
      
    • Internet issues (e.g., device, router, ISP) can be worked around by using an alternate internet path (e.g., mobile hotspot, friend's home, local café, etc.).
      
    • Printer or scanner issues can be worked around by using a tablet or phone camera, using a friend's printer, or visiting a local office store.
      
    • Potential issues deriving from lack of required technical knowledge (e.g., lack of knowledge for compressing PDF documents) may be avoided by allotting reasonable extra time for learning new processes before they are needed (i.e., before an assignment deadline).
      
  • Travel Plans
    
    • Travel and related issues are readily avoidable or easily overcome, and are generally not considered a basis for waiver of Lateness Penalty.
      
    • Internet is readily available worldwide and assignments may be submitted from virtually anywhere at anytime.
      
    • To accommodate periods of actual transit (e.g., car, airplane), reasonable advance planning is expected to submit assignments prior to the transit.
      
  • Requesting Waiver of Lateness Penalty. The request for waiver of Lateness Penalty based on entirely unavoidable and unpreventable lateness must be submitted in writing as part of the assignment document.
    
    • Add a new page as the first page of the assignment document.
      
    • On the new page, provide a short explanation of how the entire duration of lateness was unavoidable and unpreventable, including explanation of the duration of lateness (i.e., why the assignment could not reasonably have been submitted sooner after the due date).
      
    • Requests for waiver of lateness penalty submitted separately (e.g., by email, in class, separate document) will not be considered.
      
    • For assignments that are entirely auto-score (AT) or poll (SP) with no associated document, there is generally no lateness penalty assigned so there is no process for waiver. However, these assignments may not be submitted at all after five days (120 hours), and there is no routine process for resetting to allow a late submit.
      
    • For two-part exams that have a document and an AT portion, the two parts are intended to be completed and submitted together as one assignment, and any request for waiver of lateness must be included with the submitted document to cover the entire exam (document and AT portion).
      
    • The final determination of “entirely unavoidable and unpreventable” and application of a waiver rests solely with the teacher and TPS.
      
      • A disagreement with the teacher's denial of Lateness Penalty waiver may be appealed in writing to TPS Support. TPS will review the matter with the teacher and guide the teacher in final resolution.
        
      • If at anytime TPS determines that a Lateness Penalty was inadvertently miscalculated or misapplied by the teacher -- too high or too low -- TPS will review the matter with the teacher and guide the teacher in correcting the grade.
        

Proctored Exams

TPS exams are required to be started, completed, and submitted in a single sitting with continuous proctored oversight and no breaks. The purpose of proctoring exams is to help maximize the student’s learning, preparation, grades, and retention. Exam proctoring is a parent-led process, where a parent guides and supervises the process from start to finish. The basis for and benefits of proctored exams are explained here:

https://at-tps.org/faqs/proctoring-tests-at-home/

The procedural guidelines for proctoring exams, including the required downloadable Proctor Signature Form, are here:

https://www.pottersschool.org/exam-proctor/

• TPS exam proctoring is a parent-led process. A parent is required to actively manage the process from start to finish following the TPS procedural guidelines.
  
• TPS exams are required to be started, completed, and submitted in a single sitting with continuous proctored oversight and no breaks.
  
• A multi-part exam (e.g., one part automated (A) and one part submitted as a document) is considered as a single exam for the purpose of proctoring and grading. Both parts are included in the "single sitting with continuous proctored oversight and no breaks".
  
• If the requirement for the exam (all parts together) to be started, completed, and submitted in a single sitting with continuous proctored oversight and no breaks is not clearly met, the teacher will apply a Proctoring Penalty: 20% High School course; 10% Middle School course; No Penalty for Elementary School course.
  
  • The penalty is applied to all parts of a multi-part exam.
    
  • An exam submitted without an accurately completed Proctor Signature Form submitted directly with the exam is considered as not proctored and is penalized. The form is substantially used by the parent to guide the process and is integral to the process, including the process of submitting the exam. (There is no option to submit the form later.)
    
  • Proctor forms are required to be attached to the exam document. If the form is submitted timely with the exam but not correctly attached, there will be a reminder but no penalty unless the problem is recurring.
    
  • The Proctoring Penalty is added to any other applicable penalties (e.g., Lateness Penalty, Resubmit Penalty).
    

Any adjustments, exceptions, or alternatives to these guidelines must be requested of and approved in writing by sending a new separate (i.e., not mixed with other topics) email request to TPS Support.

Resubmitting Documents

• The guidelines for submitting documents require the student (and proctor, if it is an exam) to verify that the document was submitted correctly by downloading and reviewing the document immediately after it is submitted. This ensures that the teacher receives the document and content the student intended to submit.
  
• Submitted documents which are unable to be evaluated (e.g., blank, wrong content, wrong file type) are invariably a human (not technical) error, usually due to failing to save and submit the correct document (and verify after submitting). Submitted documents which cannot be graded will be scored as a Zero.
  
• Resubmit Before Grading
  
  • TPS encourages students to review their submitted documents immediately after submitting, and to resubmit immediately if a problem is discovered (e.g., wrong version submitted, missing proctor form, etc.).
    
  • For a document resubmitted before it is processed by the teacher, the latest version will be evaluated and earlier versions will be ignored (no score). All timeliness and lateness penalty considerations will be applied to the submit date and time of the latest version.
    
• Resubmit After Grading
  
  • Teachers may authorize an ungradable document to be resubmitted with the following conditions:
    
    • Must be submitted within seven (7) calendar days from the date the zero grade was assigned. (Note: At the end of each academic term, StudyPlace closes to assignment submission following dates posted in the academic calendar so that no assignments are accepted after the StudyPlace close date. The seven days for resubmit are also limited by the StudyPlace close date. Therefore, final exams, essays, and projects will generally not have opportunity for resubmit if submitted incorrectly and the zero score will be final.)
      
    • Resubmit Penalty: 20% High School course; 10% Middle School course; No Penalty for Elementary School course.
      
  • Multiple resubmits (i.e., a resubmit of a resubmit) are not permitted or considered, including in Elementary School courses.
    
• Multiple Penalties
  
  • Resubmit Penalty is added to any Lateness Penalty for the original submission.
    
  • Resubmit Penalty for an exam document is added to any Proctoring Penalty for the exam.
    
• Any adjustments, exceptions, or alternatives to these guidelines must be requested of and approved in writing by sending a new separate (i.e., not mixed with other topics) email request to TPS Support.
  

Resetting Auto-scored (AT) Assignments

• AT assignments have a confirmation window that pops up to confirm the student is ready to complete that particular AT Assignment in one sitting. This should prevent a student from inadvertently opening the wrong AT assignment.
  
• If an AT Assignment is interrupted due to technical issues of any kind, the student can immediately (re)load the assignment into a working browser with a working internet. In-progress work is not lost and the assignment is not automatically submitted.
  
• With these confirmations and safeguards, requests to reset AT Assignments are generally not supported. Any request for a reset must be made and approved in writing by sending a new separate (i.e., not mixed with other topics) email request to TPS Support.
  

Humanitarian Academic Leave (Extended Absence)

In cases of extended illness, injury, surgery, bereavement (death in the immediate family) or other similar situations where the student must be away from classes and assignments for an extended period (greater than 5 days (120 hours)) for humanitarian reasons, it is cumbersome and counterproductive to negotiate individual assignment extensions, waivers, or accommodations for each assignment.

TPS manages periods of prolonged absence from classes or assignments due to humanitarian reasons through an overall academic leave of absence rather than by individual class or assignment. In keeping with the humanitarian purpose, assignments are usually waived rather than extended. To further reduce the notification and negotiation burden, the leave period, including all assignments, is centrally coordinated by TPS Support rather than by individual teachers.

• Requesting Humanitarian Leave (Extended Absence)
  
  • Humanitarian Leave may be requested by the family in writing to TPS Support (it may not be provided by the teacher).
    
  • Any requests to the teacher for extensions due to humanitarian or compassion reasons will be referred to TPS Support and will not be processed by the teacher.
    
  • TPS Support will consider the request and notify family and teachers of the status and conditions of the Humanitarian Leave.
    
• Attendance and Assignment Processing During Humanitarian Leave (Extended Absence)
  
  • TPS does not want to evaluate or negotiate due dates, grades or penalties for students who are sick, injured, or in crisis.
    
  • Attendance is optional, and all Participation scores will be waived regardless of attendance.
    
  • Assignment submission is optional. Zeros will accumulate and be resolved by TPS Support through waivers or special accommodations at the end of the Humanitarian Leave. Assignments submitted after five days (120 hours) from due date will not be reviewed or evaluated.
    
  • During the leave period, the courses will be placed in Audit status to remove pressure of grades and deadlines.
    
• Terminating Humanitarian Leave (Extended Absence)
  
  • It is the sole responsibility of the family to notify TPS when the student is able to resume full workload and pace with timely submission of future assignments.
    
  • When notified, TPS Support will review the student's overall progress in the course, consider the duration and academic impact of the leave period relative to the total course, and determine the recovery plan.
    
  • For short leave periods with clearly defined recovery points, the recovery plan will usually be to waive (no score) assignments due during the leave period, remove Audit status, and resume normal assignment timeliness immediately. The intent is to focus the student on moving forward without having to simultaneously recover the past.
    
  • If the leave period protracts or cannot be terminated cleanly to allow the student to resume full workload and pace with timely submission of future assignments, TPS will assess whether the course can be creditable for the student based on the total work that can be completed on time and evaluated to course standards. If it is determined that the course cannot be completed for credit, the Audit status will be continued through the end of the course. In this case, the family will be responsible for transcripting the course in accordance with their homeschool standards and priorities.
    

Regrades

TPS does not support requests to re-do, re-take, or regrade a fairly graded assignment for the sole purpose of assigning a higher grade. However, we also recognize the importance of strong grade records and the occasional need for grade recovery, particularly in high school credit courses.

• If a student reaches the end of the school year and any one assignment is found to be sufficiently inconsistent with all the other assignments that it results in a drop of a "letter grade" (e.g., A to A-) for the final course grade, then TPS will consider a request to assign a No Score to the outlier assignment of concern. If the course grade is not dropped by at least a letter grade, or if the assignment grade is consistent with many other grades in the course, then the No Score will not be considered.
  
• The request for a consideration of grade waiver must be made in writing to TPS Support immediately at the end of the course when the final grade is calculated (the change can still be made just after grading is "closed" and before transcripts are issued for that school year).
  

End of the Academic Term

Every academic term (e.g., Summer, Full Year, Fall, Spring) has a final date for accepting student work. These dates can be found on the Academic Calendar. StudyPlace closing dates are not flexible and cannot be extended for individual students. Students who fail to submit all work completed and in the correct format prior to the final assignment submission date of the term will be graded based on the work submitted. Work sent later (e.g., by email or postal mail) will not be considered.

Source: https://www.pottersschool.org/assignments-timely-correct-exceptions