Academic Policies
Student Responsibilities
To help students have a successful VHS experience, students are responsible for knowing and adhering to the policies and procedures that are described below. These policies are also outlined for students in the VHS student orientation.
Attendance
VHS students are expected to attend and participate in their course(s) as fully as they would attend and participate in a traditional classroom course. All assigned work should be completed in a timely fashion, and students must actively participate in course discussions. At an absolute minimum, students are required to log-in and perform work in their course(s) three times per week. Ideally, students will access their VHS classes each day.
The following parameters can be used as guidelines for VHS high school level courses:
- A standard level class requires students to be actively engaged in their coursework for approximately 6 - 8 hours per week.
- An honors level class requires students to be actively engaged in their coursework for approximately 8 - 10 hours per week.
- An AP level class, requires students to be actively engaged in their coursework for approximately 10 - 12 hours per week.
In cases of extended student absence due to illness (five days or more), the local site coordinator, or the student's parent/guardian, may contact the course teacher directly to notify the teacher of any delay in providing assigned work. It is the responsibility of the student to make up work missed due to absence. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, work should be made up within one week of the student's return to class. Credit for makeup work is at the discretion of the course instructor.
A student who neglects coursework, or has excessive or unexcused absences may be required to withdraw from the course. Required withdrawal from a course is equivalent in all respects to failing it; the student is assigned a grade of WF (withdrawal fail) and earns no credit for the course. In cases of extended absence due to illness (two days or more), the student, or the student's parent/guardian, should notify the teacher directly of any delay in providing assigned work. It is the responsibility of the student to make up work missed due to absence.
Academic Honesty
All work submitted to meet course requirements is expected to be the student's own work. A student suspected of academic dishonesty in any form is subject to review and disciplinary action by VHS. Disciplinary action may result in termination from the course.
Acceptable Internet Use Policy
All students participating in VHS are expected to conduct their communications in a professional, respectful manner. The use of proper Internet etiquette is expected at all times. Inappropriate language or behavior will result in disciplinary action and possible termination from the course at the discretion of VHS.
Anti-Harassment Policy
VHS is committed to safeguarding the right of all individuals involved in VHS to work and learn in an environment that is free of harassment. Harassment on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, or disability in any form will not be tolerated and may result in termination from the course.
Student Discipline
As in any classroom, the VHS teacher will attempt to address discipline problems directly with the student prior to referring the student to VHS. If the instructor is unable to resolve the problem, or if the infraction is such that it requires administrative notification, the teacher will contact VHS and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.
Grades
There is a common grading scale for all courses offered by VHS. Grades range from A+ (100%) for excellent work to F (59% or below) for work that does not meet the minimum requirements of the course. Your current grade average will be available in your course each week and your final grade will be available in your course and be sent to you via email.
When converting numeric grades to letter grades, the system will use the following scale:
Letter Grade Numeric Grade
A+ 97 - 100
A 93 - 96
A- 90 - 92
B+ 87 - 89
B 83 - 86
B- 80 - 82
C+ 77 - 79
C 73 - 76
C- 70 - 72
D+ 67 - 69
D 63 - 66
D- 60 - 62
F 00 - 59
If a student is participating from a VHS member school, grades will be reported to the school by the local site coordinator. If a student is participating as an individual tuition student, a final grade report will be mailed to each student, and to the student's school. For alternative grading arrangements for individual tuition students, please contact Steve Walsh.