Late and/or Missed Assessment Tasks

The primary purpose of assessment, evaluation, and reporting is to provide feedback to students, parents/guardians, and teachers “that directs instruction in the classroom towards improving student learning”. In order for teachers to evaluate achievement of curriculum expectations, a number of assessment and evaluation opportunities/tasks are provided for, and must be completed by students. Deadlines are critical to the learning process and teachers may use a variety of methods for dealing with late and missed assignments

Should a student be having difficulty meeting a due date, it is his or her responsibility to seek assistance, show work progress to date, and inquire about the possibility of an extension well in advance of the due date. Note that some due dates are negotiable while others are absolute. In all cases, if a major assignment has been marked and returned, the authenticity of the work being produced cannot be guaranteed, and a zero will be assigned to any students who have not yet submitted that assignment.

• If a student is ill or on suspension during a test or presentation, he or she will write it or deliver it on the first day back at school. In cases of illness, the student must produce a note within a day of returning to school from a doctor, parent, or guardian addressed to the teacher stating the reason for absence and acknowledgment that a test or presentation was missed.
• If a student is on a school trip or team event during a test or presentation, he or she must have made prior arrangements with the teacher.

• If a student is skipping during a test or presentation, a zero will be assigned.
• Due dates for major assignments must be met even if the student is absent from school on the day it is due.

For full details of Pickering High School’s policies surrounding late and missed assessment tasks, please consult the Student Agenda.

Plagiarism and/or Cheating

Plagiarism is defined as the use of the thoughts or ideas of someone else by a student without crediting the source. If you use part or all of any other person's book, essay, magazine article, chart drawing, website, diagram, or any other piece of work in any of your assignments without proper acknowledgment, you are plagiarizing. Even with proper accreditation, information must be properly paraphrased and not just reworded using a thesaurus. Direct quotations must appear within quotation marks. If you submit an assignment written by anyone else (e.g., a relative, friend, or fellow student) or if you buy an essay or present information taken from the internet as your own, you are plagiarizing.

Plagiarized assignments and tests or exams where cheating has occurred will be given a mark of zero and parents will be notified. In addition, the vice-principal will record and report the occurrence to the student’s other teachers. Subsequent occurrences of plagiarism or cheating will result in a suspension from school.