By Betsy Finklea
The Dillon District Four School Board approved the clarifications to the grading/assessment systems policy and the Social Studies Education policy at a recent meeting.
The motion was made by Trustee Alex Lewis with a second by Trustee Kenny Bethea to approve the motion which was affirmed by the board.
The following changes were made:
*The policy was clarified in regards to students out-of-state.
“If no numerical average can be obtained from the sending institution, the receiving school will calculate the student’s cumulative transfer GPA and the corresponding number equivalent will be assigned to replace the “P.””
“If no numerical average can be obtained from the sending institution on the “F,” the grade entered will be a 50.”
*The policy was clarified in regards to students who were homeschooled:
“The district will consider a student’s transcript along with additional supporting evidence such as course syllabi, lesson plans, schedules, textbooks, or other instructional resources to validate course credits from homeschools.”
*The policy was also clarified in regards to international students:
“For international students, the district will attempt to gather as much course information from the sending school including course syllabi, standards end of course assessment results, or other instructional resources to determine the course credits that are the best match.”
“The district may designate courses and give the assigned weighting under the following conditions:”
“An honors course must have a curriculum that extends, accelerates, and enriches the College Preparatory (CP) course study in rigor, complexity, challenges, and creativity as outlined in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.”
“Instructional practices for advanced learners must demonstrate appropriate differentiation that will enhance the delivery of instruction while strengthening the components outline in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.”
“Assessments must align with the honors level curriculum and instructional best practices, to include pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment.”
The following regards dual credit courses:
“All dual credit courses earned in South Carolina should be transcribed with the 1.0 quality point weight when the student transfers to a new school. Dual credit courses earned out of state may or may not carry quality point weightings. When a student transfers, the weight applied at the sending institution according to the state’s regulations will be applied to the student’s transcript. The district will not change the weight of a dual credit course to match South Carolina’s process.”
A clarification was also made to the Social Studies Education policy regarding Veteran’s Day. This section now reads as follows:
“All schools in the district will provide one hour of class time or assembly time to study the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. This hour of study will be on November 11, Veteran’s Day, or on the school day immediately preceding November 11 if schools are closed on Veteran’s Day.”
