Overview

This course will be using skills based grading, meaning that a student’s grade will be solely based on their ability to prove competency of the core skills covered throughout the course. Some key components of this grading framework are:

All skills will be rated on a 0-4 scale.
Students will be given multiple opportunities to show mastery of each skill.
The skills will be clearly listed on the course syllabus.
Skill grades will be based on assessments (exams, quizzes, projects, labs, etc) only.
- Assessments will be clearly noted when assigned.
Homework, classwork, entrance/exit tickets and other assignment types will be given, but will not factor into a students skill grade.

Assignment Types

Homework And Classwork

The purpose of these assignments is for students to practice, discover and try things out. These assignments are vital elements of a student’s path to skill mastery. These are not included in a students grade because they are not designed to assess skills but rather to hone them. Student’s grades should not be affected by how long or quickly it takes to complete. Students should also not be discouraged from trying out something different, exploring new possibilities or even failure to complete these assignments, as all of those activities are integral to learning and eventually mastering skills.

These assignments will also provide the teacher with important information about the current abilities of each student and the class as a whole. These assignments will not be graded, but they will be used in class, solutions may be provided, and feedback will be given as often as needed and possible.

Assessments

All assessments are designed to assess a students skill competency. It will be clear which skills are to be assessed for a given assessment. Instead of a single grade for an assignment (i.e. 92/100, 41/50, 3.5/4), students will be given a single grade for each skill assessed on a 0 - 4 scale as follows:

4: Mastery of the skill demonstrated.
3: Competency of the skill demonstrated.
2: Developing competency of the skill demonstrated.
1: Minimal competency of the skill demonstrated.
0: No part of the skill demonstrated.

Exams & Quizzes

Exams and quizzes will be in class assessments taking the course of a period (or part of a period for quizzes). Students are not to work collaboratively or share information about the exam/quiz to any other student.

Lab Assignments

Lab assignments will be programming tasks that may include both in and out of class time to complete. Students must submit their own work, though they may use class-approved resources (including notes, classmates, CS Dojo) to complete the assignments. Rubrics detailing what skills will be assessed and what constitutes a particular grade for each skill will be provided for each lab.

Projects

Projects will be larger-scale assignments. Students will be given more time to complete the work than labs, and specific time will be set aside for planning and design, in addition to the project itself. Rubrics detailing what skills will be assessed and what constitutes a particular grade for each skill will be provided for each project.

Final Project and/or Exam

The course will culminate in a final assessment that will take the form of an exam, project, or both. The final(s) will assess all the skills for the course.

Late Assessment Submissions

Late labs and projects will be allowed within reason.
- If a submission is deemed too late (i.e. after solutions have been posted, after marking period grades are due, etc.), there will be other opportunities to assess skill competency.
Since homework and classwork are not included in a students grade, that late work will not be penalized.

Retakes/Retests/Redos

All students will be given multiple attempts to demonstrate competency of each skill. This can take many different forms, including(but not limited to) the following:

Re-submission of an assessment.
Re-taking an exam.
Submitting corrections/explanations of incorrect answers.
Submitting a similar (but not identical) assessment.
Taking a similar (but not identical) exam.
Not allowing retakes or resubmissions, but instead using skill grades from other (previous or later) assessments.

Final Grade Calculation

A student’s final grade should reflect their demonstrated skill competency level from throughout the semester, including how well they’ve maintained those skills through to the end. A student’s skill grade will consist of their skill level demonstrated over the course of the semester and their skill level demonstrated on the final assessment(s):

Final grades will take the average of all of a student’s individual skill grades and map that to a 100 point grading scale as follows:

4: 100
3: 90
2: 75
1: 55

Skills for NeXTCS - Spring Term

N.B. This list may change slightly over the course of the semester. Any changes will be made clearly during class and updated here as well.

Skill	Minimal Competency	Developing Competency	Competency	Mastery
3. Using Colors	Can set colors using separate Red, Green, and Blue values.	Can set colors using RGB values or hexcode values.	Can create and work with `color` variable types.	Can explain how the `color` data type represents color values.
7. Controlling Program Speed	Can set the frame rate for a processing program.	Can set the frame rate based on a specified speed.	Can control program output based on the current frame number.	Can start and stop the action of a processing program.
9. Writing Readable Code	Uses descriptive identifiers.	Uses indentation and newlines to create more readable code, and descriptive identifiers.	Uses inline and block comments when appropriate. Uses indentation and newlines, and descriptive identifiers.	Can take a large programming task and break it up into smaller functions.
10. Debugging Practices	Can use `println` statements to help debug code.	Consistently uses `println` statements while debugging.	Consistently uses `println` statements and commenting while debugging.	Creates visual output in the program window while debugging.
14. Using Objects	Can declare and Object variable and instantiate an Object using a constructor.	Can use multiple Objects in a program by calling methods on appropriately declared and instantiated Object variables.	Can use Objects in a program, describe how reference variables work, and how they are different from primitive variables.	Can use Objects and accurately make heap diagrams of Object variables and data.
15. Writing Classes	Can design a class by grouping together ideas that should be encapsulated into a single class.	Can separate out the fields from the methods while designing a class.	Can write a class with fields, a single constructor and methods.	Can write classes with fields, and overloaded methods and constructors.
18. Searching
19. Sorting
20. Algorithm Analysis	Can describe the difference in how long two different algorithms that perform the same task using measured data.	Can describe the difference between time complexity and space complexity.	Can describe the main complexity classes using Big-O notation.	Can assign the correct Big-O complexity class to a given algorithm or piece of code.
21. Using Git & Github	Can create ssh keys and add them to Github one one computer.	Can use git to properly `add`, `commit` and `push` files.	Can use git to maintain a repository on multiple computers and Github.	Can correct merge conflicts appropriately when they appear.
22. Following Specifications
23. Implementation of Inheritance	Can extend a class.	Can add new fields and methods to a subclass.	Can override inherited methods and use `super()` in constructors effectively.	Can place fields and methods appropriately in a class hierarchy, reducing redundant code.
24. Polymorphism	Can use variables of the appropriate type within a class hierarchy.	Can use data structures to store and work with objects within a class hierarchy.	Can explain which classes inherited functionality come from within a class hierarchy.	Can design and explain an inheritance tree, including class diagrams.
25. Linked Lists
26. Modeling
27. Encapsulation Diagrams
28. Strings
29. Trees
30. Image Processing