Late and Missed Work Policy

It is the responsibility of students to provide evidence of their learning within established timelines. Kanata Academy will implement strategies to ensure students submit evidence of their learning within appropriate and well-communicated timelines. Ultimately, it is a shared responsibility among parents, students and staff to ensure students provide evidence of their learning. Submitting assignments in a timely manner in accordance with teacher expectations also helps students to become: Self-directed Responsible, Lifelong learners Collaborative contributors Responsible citizens. Timelines for submission of assignments are established to encourage students to manage their time effectively and take responsibility for completion of assigned work. Deadlines are also used to allow teachers to effectively deliver curriculum and manage the assessment of the assignments. The ability to meet deadlines is highly valued as both an employability skill and a general life skill. Therefore, teaching students to respect timelines is extremely important.

Teachers must not lose sight of the primary purpose of assessment, which is to improve student learning and to indicate the level of achievement it demonstrates, not to reward or punish unrelated behaviours. A student who hands in work late does demonstrate poor learning skills; however, the late submission by itself is not related to the student’s demonstration of learning based on the curriculum expectations.
The teacher’s goal is to modify the unsatisfactory behaviour of late assignment submission which may involve a variety of strategies and considerations. If a mark penalty is imposed as one of these strategies, it should not alter the mark to the extent that it distorts the level of achievement that the work actually demonstrates.
Assessment and evaluation consistent with the Kanata Academy’s philosophy of education will help students to recognize and develop their pursuits. In a secondary school, a pattern of incomplete work jeopardizes the granting of a credit if the teacher decides a student has not demonstrated mastery of critical course expectations as they are outlined to students/parents at the begining of the course.
Teachers must judge student achievement based on evidence provided by the students. Circumstances in students’ lives may arise that interfere with their ability to complete some tasks. Late or missed assignments can be due to faulty judgment of completion times when students are involved in a large volume of work. Teachers should recognize these situations and always make considerations that are in the best interest of the student.

Kanata Academy will:

implement practices aligned with the Fundamental Principles enumerated in the Ministry of Education’s Growing Success policy;
ensure that reported grades accurately reflect student achievement of the overall curriculum expectations of the subject or course;
ensure that mark deduction will not result in a report card percentage mark that misrepresents the student’s actual achievement of the curriculum overall expectations;
promote academic honesty;
ensure that students are responsible for providing evidence of their learning within established timelines;
ensure there are appropriate consequences for not completing work, and submitting work late;
ensure that the determination of interventions and consequences will take into consideration the following factors: grade level; maturity; pathway; the number, frequency and severity of policy violations; and the individual circumstances of all students;
assess the on-going effectiveness of interventions and consequences to determine further interventions required to support student success;
ensure responsive differentiation in instruction, assessment and evaluation to meet the needs of all students;
ensure that students with special education needs are provided with accommodated, modified or alternate program as outlined in the Individual Education Plan; Students have the responsibility to: provide evidence of their learning within established timelines.

Students understand that:

all assessment and evaluation activities are due on the assigned date or within the time frame specified by the teacher;
teachers have an obligation to evaluate work in a timely fashion. To do this teachers need multiple sources of evidence upon which to base their judgments for evaluation. Choosing not to complete or submit work jeopardizes whether a teacher can make a valid and reliable judgment about the student’s achievement;
some deadlines are absolute, i.e., the teacher needs to submit grades for reporting by a given date and cannot reasonably be expected to score a large amount of students’ late work the night before. Therefore lateness may result in no mark. In some cases, lateness may require students to demonstrate knowledge and skills within alternate settings;
good time management is important to successful achievement;
they have a responsibility to work in conjunction with their teacher regarding extenuating circumstances;
assistance is available to them when they are not confident about concepts or skills;
it is unacceptable to hand in work late unless the teacher has agreed to an alternative date;
a record of lateness will be kept and reported as part of the Student’s Learning Skills and this will become part of the student’s permanent record

Teachers understand that:

the due date of an Assessment/Evaluation activity is set at the discretion of the teacher in consultation, where appropriate, with the students.
they have an obligation to discuss fully with students, late and missed assignment procedures.
clear guidelines must be provided to students to help them pace their work assignments appropriately.
they must work with students to create a culture of responsibility and redemption, where students assume increased responsibility and management of their school assignments.
the return of a student assessment and evaluation needs to be timely in order to provide the students with feedback to promote growth and learning.
there may be consequences for a late or missed assignment; however, as per Growing Success, mark deductions will not result in a percentage mark that, in the professional judgement of the teacher, misrepresents the student`s actual achievement

Parents Understand That:

open communication between parents, teachers and students is a key factor in developing a culture of responsibility for assessment and evaluation;
the due date of an assessment or evaluation activity is set at the discretion of the teacher;
it is unacceptable to hand in work late, unless, an alternate date has been set;
clear guidelines are provided to students to help them pace their work assignments appropriately;
students must assume responsibility and management of their school communication

Teachers will:

establish and communicate due dates for the submission of assignments for evaluation, preferably in collaboration with students
collaborate to coordinate major evaluation dates to provide a reasonable work load for students; • clearly communicate due dates to students;
for grades 9 to 12 clearly communicate the requirements of the evaluations to students and the possible consequences for missing these evaluations;
support student development of learning skills and work habits required to meet due dates to provide evidence of their learning;
monitor, conference with and provide ongoing feedback to students on assignments for evaluation completed outside of class time; • ensure that all tasks to be used for evaluation of learning (i.e., assignments, tests, exams, etc.) are completed, whenever possible, under the supervision of a teacher;
appropriately implement a student’s Individual Education Plan. Late or Missed Assignments;

Teachers will:

ask the student to clarify the reason for not completing the assignment;
take into consideration extenuating circumstances for missed deadlines; help students to develop better time-management skills;
plan for major assignments to be completed in stages, so that students are less likely to be faced with an all-or-nothing situation at the last minute;
conference with the student to ensure the completion of late or missed assignments;
review the need for extra support for English language learners;
review whether students require special education services; the missing evidence of learning;
ensure students and parents/guardians are kept informed of incomplete, late, and non-submitted
work with students to help them remediate the learning skills and work habits required to meet due dates and provide evidence of their learning;
provide alternative assignments or tests/exams where, in the teacher’s professional judgment, it is reasonable and appropriate to do so;
be aware that deducting marks for late assignments should be addressed in the Learning Skills section of the provincial report card