For most students, high school is a very different academic environment than is college. Compared to college courses, high school courses are often more structured, less demanding, and include frequent testing. High school course grades may be based on weekly or biweekly exams, homework, subjective assessments of student effort and the teacher’s opinion. In contrast, college grades are often based on less frequent exams (perhaps two exams in a semester) and more rigorous academic projects (term papers, presentations, etc). In high school, there are multiple marking periods when grades are assigned; in college, one grade reflects an entire semester’s work. Most high school course grades are equal in their impact; in college, a 5-credit "C" course carries more weight than a 1-credit "A" course. If low course grades are assigned in high school, students may (and sometimes must) remain in school; in college, students who receive low grades will be put on probation or may be suspended from school.

For all of these reasons, it is important that entering students receive adequate feedback on their academic performance during their first semester in college. First-year students need to be informed of their academic status in ways which allow them to take appropriate corrective action consistent with established university guidelines and deadlines.

It is expected that you will provide your students with a formal assessment of their academic status in your section of EDUC 1105 sometime between weeks 5 and 9 of the fall or spring semester (this time frame needs to be adapted for summer term courses according to their specific length). During fall and spring semesters, the end of the 9^th week is the WSU deadline for students to withdraw from, or to change to C/NCor Audit status for individual courses.

This "formal assessment" may take an entire class period or only part of a class period (20-30 minutes). It must include the following components:

* a summary of each student’s individual academic performance in EDUC 1105 relative to the course requirements to date (scores on exams, paper, exercises, attendance, etc) - this can be an excerpt of your syllabus and completed as a worksheet in class (see attached materials)

* a calculation of what this performance would mean in terms of a final course grade, if grades would be awarded at this time - this can be an excerpt of your syllabus and completed as a worksheet in class

* a discussion of the options which are available to students who need or wish to take corrective action to improve their grades or avoid jeopardizing their academic status at the University (meet with a specific course instructor to discuss solutions, obtain tutoring or other academic assistance, change from a letter grade to C/NC or Audit status, withdraw from the course, etc)

* a discussion of how cumulative grade point averages are calculated and what determines a student’s satisfactory academic progress at WSU - university policies PPM 4-17 and 4-19 are helpful and may be assigned as course readings - (see http://documents.weber.edu/ppm/)

In addition, it is strongly suggested that you require your students to identify the "mid-term" grades they are earning in their other courses for the purposes of calculating an overall semester grade point average. Your students may need to contact their other professors to request their academic standing if they are not able to determine their academic status in those courses on their own (unclear course expectations in the syllabus, lack of feedback on exams and other graded assignments, etc.)

In addition to a class discussion on the topic of academic status, you may want to require students to complete a credit/no credit reflection journal or letter-graded paper which allows students an opportunity to describe and reflect on their current academic status and their prior behaviors which have contributed to this status (time management, studying, note-taking, textbook reading, test-taking, writing, etc). The journal entry or paper may also include an action plan for the remaining portion of the semester which identifies any changes students will make to modify their academic status. These changes could be designed as part of a formal goal-setting process to assist students in understanding how to set and accomplish goals.

EDUC 1105 - INTRODUCTION TO THE UNIVERSITY (3 cr)
Dr. Lukken’s section

Ten pass/fail writing assignments @ 5 pts ea 50 pts
Academic service learning; P/F___
Color Code; P/F ___
Diversity; P/F___
E-mail journal entries (minimum of 4):___ P/F ___P/F ___P/F ___P/F
Getting involved; P/F___
Personal Style Inventory; P/F ___
Values; P/F ___
Each P/F writing assignment will be evaluated as follows:

Four letter-graded writing assignments @ 25 pts each 100 pts
Academic plan paper; grade earned _____
Career/major paper; grade earned _____
Goal setting paper; grade earned _____
Time management paper; grade earned _____
NOTE: A paper may be re-written and re-submitted within one week of its return. The score recorded for the re-written paper is an average of points awarded on the initial and re-written paper.

Oral Presentation; grade earned _____ 50 pts

Exam #1; grade earned _____ 50 pts

Exam #2; grade earned _____ 50 pts

Final comprehensive exam; grade earned _____ 100 pts

TOTAL 400 pts

A = 90% - 100% (360 - 400 pts) D = 60% - 69% (240 - 279 pts)

B = 80% - 89% (320 - 359 pts) F = below 60% (below 240 pts)

C = 70% - 79% (280 - 319 pts)

By this date in the semester, I have earned _______________ points out of ________________ 
possible points, or ____________________%. If my final grade was calculated on this percentage, 
I would earn a _________________ in this course.

ACADEMIC PROGRESS

* Grade Points - To determine the number of grade points earned by each class, multiple the grade points by the number of course credit hours (e.g., an "A" in English 1010 - 3 cr would be worth 4 x 3 = 12 points). Each letter grade earns points as follows:

A = 4.0  A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3   B = 3.0
B- = 2.7   C+ = 2.3
C = 2.0   C- = 1.7
D+ = 1.3   D = 1.0
D- = 0.7   E = 0.0
(Note: UW Unofficial Withdrawal = 0.0)

** Calculating a Cumulative GPA - The cumulative grade point average (GPA) is calculated by dividing the total number of grade points (the number of credit hours per course taken multiplied by the numerical value shown below for the grade received in each course) by the total number of credit hours taken. A student's overall GPA will be calculated based only on courses taken at Weber State University and will be the GPA that appears on the transcript for that student. Only letter grades (not C/NC or AU) are used in computing the grade point average.

~~~ example ~~~

EDUC 1105 - Introduction to the University
Section 4
How Am I Doing?
(Assignments & Points) 

3 unexcused absences in a row without contacting teacher results in UW.

Record dates you missed class:

1) _________________ 2) _________________ 3) ___________________

4) _________________ 5) _________________ and grade drops by one whole grade.