- Houston Independent School District
- Academic Policies
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Academic Policies for Virtual Learning
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PLEASE NOTE: This information is subject to TEA guidance and may be changed at any time. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to the Academics page on the HISD Reopening website.
Click on the tabs below to learn more.
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Attendance:
Students who are engaged in daily learning as defined below will be considered “present” and will not be marked absent.
- Participation in the HUB, the HISD Learning Management System (LMS) and completion of independent reading and work assignments.
- Interactions with teachers via Microsoft Teams as part of live or small group instruction.
- Submission of assignment(s) via the HUB. When unable to submit via the HUB, students can submit assignments via emails, photos, phone conferences, or other forms of documentation.
Students who have not met at least one of the three requirements above by the following times will be marked absent:- Elementary schools - 2:30 p.m.
- Middle & K-8 schools – 3:30 p.m.
- High schools – 3:30 p.m.
Absences can be resolved if the student engages in daily learning assigned by their teachers by 11:59 p.m. that same day. Parents and students will receive absence notifications via School Messenger after 6:00 p.m. each day and will be reminded of the opportunity to resolve that day’s absence if the student engages in learning before 11:59 p.m. of the same day. Any absences recorded, but resolved by the student before 11:59 p.m. on the same day, will be reconciled based on login records of the HUB or with teacher verification.
If a student is engaged in remote learning and completes learning activities for the entire week on Monday and does not log in for the remainder of the week, he/she will be marked “present” on Monday only and counted “absent” for Tuesday-Friday.
State law TEC §25.092 and Houston ISD Policy still require students to attend at least 90% of their classes to receive credit and be promoted. Remote attendance will count in the same manner as on-campus (face-to-face) attendance in satisfying this requirement.
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Grading
Grades will count!
During virtual learning, your student will follow the same grading system guidelines as in-person learning.
Teachers receive support and guidance on effective grading practices to ensure that grading guidelines are followed in both instructional models. Teachers will be expected to measure student progress by grading at least two assignments per week. Teachers will post grades on a weekly basis.
Courses taken as Dual Credit or Dual Enrollment will be subject to the grading policies of the Institution of Higher Education (IHE) issuing the college credit.
Additional information on grades:
- Grades will be taken during each grading cycle of the 2020-2021 school year.
- All cycle grades will be used in the calculation of the final average for any class.
- Final exams will be administered for all high school credit courses.
- Teachers will be recording grades, which will be available for parents and students to access through the HISD Connect Parent Portal (log-in information will be provided by campuses).
