April 24, 2020
Thank you to everyone who participated in last night's HGP Town Hall meeting. We are so proud to be part of this Spiritan family that continues to be open to the Spirit and willing to work hard to continue to build our community.
Town Hall This meeting was part of our continuing effort to keep you informed. If you were unable to join us last night, you can click here to watch last night's gathering. We plan to have our next one in approximately two weeks and will share the date with you next week. At your request, we plan to include different faculty members and/or administrators and perhaps even hold topic-specific sessions (e.g. College Guidance).
We received several questions in advance of the Town Hall meeting that were topic specific—several about graduation and some about an individual sport or activity. We will send out a graduation specific update next week, and we will follow up individually with folks as well. We also had some questions that were asked during the meeting that we weren't able to address. We will follow up on those in the next few communications or via a direct email answer back next week from the appropriate person at the school.
We also want to thank you for all of your feedback from the Town Hall survey. Once we have had a chance to review and digest the results, we'll be sure to tell you how you thought we did!
Finals As promised, here is our plan for finals. After meeting with administration, faculty, and students, as well as conversations with other independent schools, we arrived at a plan that takes into account the current social landscape and an academic environment that is drastically different than what it was just a few months ago. Our conclusion was that taking traditional final exams does not make sense at this time. The students at HGP have been learning in a new, unique, and alternative way for the last six weeks. Therefore, it makes the most sense to assess their cumulative learning, growth, and understanding in an alternative way.
So, HGP will have alternative final assessments in place of traditional final exams. What is an alternative final assessment? It might be a video, an interactive project, a painting, a podcast, or a personal essay. The possibilities are many. Your sons' teachers have been working hard to develop engaging, creative, and original alternative final assessments that focus on exploring students' original thoughts, allowing the students to express their personal understanding of the content, and highlighting their individual creativity and perspective. The assessments should take about 90 minutes to complete, the equivalent time of a traditional final exam.
Key Details for Finals - Alternative Assessment Week Seniors will not have finals, traditional or alternative. However, seniors enrolled in AP classes are expected and encouraged to take their AP exams. Seniors opting out of AP exams will still complete an alternative assessment. The seniors' last day is May 15, with some students taking AP exams between May 18 and 22.
Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors will complete alternative final assessments for all full-credit (year-long) or half-credit (semester) classes. The last day of Ghost Online for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors is May 15.
As of May 15, students with an A average in a class are exempt from the alternative final assessment; students with an A-, B+, B, or B- have the option of submitting the alternative final assessment or keeping their grade where it is; and students with a C+ or below are required to complete the alternative final assessment.
May 18th to 22nd is Alternative Assessment Week. Assessments will be posted to Schoology by 9 a.m. on Monday, May 18 and will be due at 5pm on Friday, May 22. Teachers will be available throughout the week via virtual Office Hours to answer questions and address concerns. They will post their availability to Schoology.
For a full description of Alternative Assessment Week, as well as a more detailed end-of-year timeline, CLICK HERE.
We have a few announcements:
Please enjoy your weekend, and we will be in touch again this Sunday with "Happenings at HGP" and then again next Wednesday.
Gregory J. Geruson '79 President
Kevin Burke Principal
Holy Ghost Preparatory School 2429 Bristol Pike | Bensalem, PA 19020-9825 tel: 215-639-2102 | fax: 215-639-5438 © 2017 Holy Ghost Prep |