Assessment at SLA
Students at SLA are assessed through a variety of means with a focus on project-based learning and our five core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection. Our students do not take the School District of Philadelphia benchmark exams; rather, they complete projects in every subject that are assessed based on the SLA rubric
The Rubric
Exceeds Expectations = 20 - 19 points
Meets Expectations = 18 - 16 points
Approaches Expectations - 15 - 13 points
Does Not Meet Expectations - 12 - 0 points
Design -
Does the student plan and structure the project thoughtfully and purposefully?
Knowledge -
Does student demonstrate the understanding of ideas through inquiry, research, analysis, or experience?
Application -
Does student use a variety of skills and strategies to apply knowledge to the problem or project?
Process -
Does student take the necessary steps to fully realize the project goals?
Presentation -
Does student effectively communicate the central ideas of the project?
See below for a photo of the proper rubric layout. The descriptions in the empty boxes are filled in according to the subject and project nature.
Report Cards at SLA
All report card grades are graded on the A, B, C, D, F scale, rather than a 0-100 numeric scale. As such, on the report card, grades look like this:
95 - A, 85 - B, 75 - C, 65 - D, 55 - F
There are no percentages of grades between the 95, 85, 75, 65, 55 grades for final quarter grades or for final cumulative grades for final course grades.
Teachers grade individual assignments as outlined in their course syllabus and course requirements. Generally, an A would be a grade between a 90-100, a B would be an 80-89, a C would be a 70-79, a D would be between a 60-69, and a failing grade would be below a 60.
Narratives/Standards-Based Reporting
The purpose of standards-based report cards is to communicate information about student progress and achievement with regard to specific overarching content standards/skills across disciplines. These reports are formative, as they are meant to help students improve in specific skill areas in core classes throughout each year. Additionally, standards-based reporting will help students, parents, and teachers track skill development and progress vertically as students move through different levels of courses within each discipline.
The purpose of a narrative report card is to give parents, advisors, and students a qualitative overview of how the student is performing daily in the classroom setting. The reports are filled with observations, suggestions and assessed critiques of the whole student.
These reports come out at the end of the first and third quarters. They are discussed with students, advisors, and parents at the report card conferences. Ask your advisor for more information.
Process for standards:
Each department collaborated to create discipline and/or course specific standards for each course. These standards are meant to be overarching skills that are continually assessed throughout the course (roughly 4 – 6 standards per course). Throughout the course of the school year, each standard is assessed (usually multiple times) in each class. Projects, in-class assignments, labs, quizzes, and student-generated reflections are all examples of how student progress is tracked with regard to specific standards. Twice per year (after the first and third quarter), students are given a narrative report card in addition to their school district report card, and part of the narrative report card is their standards-based report for each class. On a student’s standards-based report card, they are given feedback on their progress for each standard on a 1 – 4 scale (1 meaning Not Currently Meeting Expectations, 2 meaning Approaching Expectations, 3 meaning Meeting Expectations, and 4 meaning Exceeding Expectations). During parent-advisor report card conferences, advisors, parents and students go through their report cards for each class, and the standards-based report card serves as a skill specific progress report for each course.
