AP Environmental Science
SV Cyber Program
Welcome to AP Environmental Science! My name is Mrs. Palaski and I am responsible
for grading your work and assisting you through the cyber process. Below you will
find information relevant to the course. I encourage you to read through this
information so that you are fully aware of the requirements and grading procedures
for this course. This course is challenging, yet I hope that you find the material
interesting and your time spent worthwhile. Should you have questions, please do not
hesitate to contact me. I look forward to a great year!
Contact information for Mrs. Palaski:
email through Edgenuity
room 324 Senior High School
palaskias@svsd.net
724-452-6041 Ext 1253
I will be working on grading coursework and answering emails within a specified class
period each school day. Once I receive my teaching schedule, I will email you to let you
know this time.
Summer Work
The AP Environmental Science course will be available starting on August
1st. Students should login and begin working in the course in lieu of completing a
summer assignment. You must complete at least 20% of the first nineweeks of the class prior to the first day of school to continue in the
course. Those that do not reach 20% will be rescheduled into a substitute class for
the school year.
Proctored Exams
You are required to obtain a signature of a proctor when completing all Unit Exams,
Cumulative Exams, Final Exams and AP Prep Exams during the course of your AP
Environmental Science class. You will not be required to obtain a signature for Topic
Tests or Quizzes. A proctor should be an employee of the Seneca Valley School District
(teacher, guidance counselor, administrator); please consult me should you be in a
situation where you do not have access to the Seneca Valley campus or if you do not
have a specific time period built into your student schedule for AP Environmental
Science. We will need to make alternate arrangements, such as after school proctoring
or proctoring during activity periods.
Proctors are responsible for assuring that students do not log onto any other site or
utilize any notes during the unit, cumulative, mid-term, final, and AP prep assessments.
Failure to obtain proctor signatures will result in a 10% grade penalty for
each non-proctored assessment. Proctor forms are collected at the end of each
nine week grading period. Your assessment scores will change at the end of the nine
weeks if proctoring protocol was not followed. Failure to return the proctor form by the
assigned deadline will result in a 10% decline for each proctored assessment assigned
during that grading period.
Proctor forms will be sent to you through the Edgenuity communications system.
Should you work beyond the 20% requirement for the summer and require proctoring of
an exam to move forward in the course, you are to contact Mr. Conti or a member of the
high school administration to arrange an appointment for proctoring.
Course Components
Your Edgenuity course consists of several key components that factor in to your
grade. The following activities will be weighted as follows:
Quizzes:
Tests:
Essays:
Assignments (online content, journals, etc):
Labs:
Collaboration corner:
15% of 9 weeks grade
20% of 9 weeks grade
20% of 9 weeks grade
10% of 9 weeks grade
30% of 9 weeks grade
5% of 9 weeks grade
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Quizzes and Tests will be scored by the Edgenuity program. Please let me
know should you find a discrepancy in the scoring.
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Journals and Online Content entries are initially graded by the Edgenuity
software. The Edgenuity scoring searches for key word matches and
may sometimes mark your score as incorrect, even though your
answer is appropriate. I will then re-read each entry and adjust the grade
accordingly. Please answer all parts of the questions. Occasionally, I will reset a
journal entry for you to redo. Resubmit the corrected journal and then move on
to the next assignment.
Virtual Labs - Lab Gizmos will be used to reinforce lecture content. Be sure
to review all lab information before completing your lab assessments. This
includes reviewing all “Lesson Material” located in the upper left-handed
corner of the Gizmo window.
“Wet Labs” – students will be required to be on campus to complete in-school
labs each nine weeks. These will be scheduled by the instructor and may be after
school.
Collaboration Corner: When you arrive at "Collaboration Corner"
assignments, you will find this under the "Communications" category. Open the
"Corner" and find the title that reflects the question you are on. Since everyone is
working at a different pace, post your answer based upon the posts that precede
you. If you are the first one to the corner, post your answer. If you are the
second, post your answer and respond to the first. If you are the third person,
post your answer and respond to the two preceding you. You only need to
comment on two other posts.
Two Cumulative exams (one after each semester) will be administered for the
course. They will count as your Midterm and your Final Exam and together will
represent 10% of your final course grade.
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Grading
Following the 'Overall Grade' gives you the best view as to what your current
grade is in the class. Listed below is an explanation of the differences.
% (Time) - The percent complete weighted by time.
% (Count) - The percent complete by number of assignments completed.
RG - The Relative Grade assumes that you will receive zeros for any
incomplete activities or assessments.
OG - The Overall Grade represents the score you have acquired thus far in the course,
based on all activities and assessments you have completed.
AG - The Actual Grade represents the overall grade in relation to the percentage of
coursework completed vs. the percentage of coursework that should have been
completed. This grade is lower than the Overall Grade if you are behind in your
course (per the progress calendar) and will be the same as the Overall Grade if you are
on-time or ahead of schedule in your course work.
Progress Reports will indicate the Actual Grade. At the end of each nine weeks grading
period, the Relative, Actual and Overall Grades should match. Should you leave
material incomplete at the end of the nine weeks, you will receive the Relative Grade.
Edgenuity provides you with a course calendar which you should use to help stay
on track in order to finish by your target date. Please utilize the suggested
timeframes in this calendar. To be successful in the class, you must put in the
required hours for working. If you do not log adequate work time, you will be
referred for truancy.