How New Academic Policies Support Student Learning

The SHP administration has established new academic policies for the 2022-2023 school year. The new policies include stricter enforcement of tardies, longer passing periods, a new homework policy, and changes to policies surrounding academic integrity. With over 2 months of school already gone, the policy changes have come into effect. We sat down with Mr. Jorge Reyes, Assistant Principal of Curriculum, Dr. Jennie Whitcomb, SHP Principal, and Dr. Diana Neebe, Assistant Principal of Instruction & Faculty Development, to talk about what these changes are and how they came to be. 

Mr. Reyes announced that “There are only three main changes: the tardy policy, the longer passing periods, and the new homework policy.” He explained that the policies are meant to guide students. There are some other minor changes as well. For example, students can no longer get an “incomplete course.” Furthermore, Mr. Reyes explained the new attendance policy requires that “if a student is absent for more than 20% of classes, then the student has to petition for credit.”  The SHP community believes that being in class is important for the student and for their classmates as well. Mr. Reyes described the homework policy as “ if a student is missing an assessment or three assignments in one class, then the student is required to attend the homework center.”  The rationale behind this is that if a student is missing three assignments, that means that they have not paid attention or participated in class for a whole week. Lastly, according to Mr. Reyes, the longer passing period was set in place because “it allows students to get to class on time and get a break.” Students now receive a longer, more manageable break between classes, meaning that, theoretically, they have no reason to be late.

Dr. Whitcomb explained that the most effective policy so far from the school's perspective is “the tardy policy, but it is hard to know if it is the policy itself or the enforcing of the policy.” This means that there is no definitive “most effective” policy, rather, all the policies are effective only if the students follow them. However, she views the tardy policy “as a win because students are starting to feel the need to get to class on time more often.” She also relates this to the extension of five minute passing periods to ten minute passing periods when she says, “Students are starting to stop trickling in for the first twenty minutes of class,” and are now instead “showing up on time.” Now that students are coming in on time, the teachers are able to make every seventy-five minutes of a class count. She also says that the ten minute passing periods “can provide a break to students who are having a tough day, can allow students to go to the bathroom, and can allow students to have more time to get to classes.” The extension of passing periods seems to be an effective policy, allowing teachers and students to take advantage of the full seventy-five minute periods. Dr. Whitcomb says she cannot judge the incomplete course policy because “it is too early because it is at a semester level.” Dr. Whitcomb believes that it is also “too early” to determine whether the homework policy is effective or not because we are only a month into school. She strongly emphasized that the “homework policy is there to guide students towards learning… and following the policy will ultimately result in the student's success.” The policy is involved because it helps students follow the Sacred Heart goals as well as thrive in their classes. Overall, Dr. Whitcomb believes that each of the new rules are set in place to help students follow and benefit from the SHP goals. 

In addition to the tardy policy, SHP is taking a novel approach to academic discipline and integrity, according to Dr. Neebe. Dr. Neebe says the main group which signed off on these policies was The Cor Leadership team, which includes the principal, assistant principal, Mr. Lamont Quatlebaum, Ms. Laura Stoll, and the Head of OMCS. The Cor group which signed off on these policies is a diverse one, incorporating multiple departments. After an infraction of the academic integrity policy, Dr. Neebe said, “typically a teacher's first person to report to is their department chair.” She said that one of the biggest changes made was to make the first step of reporting to the department chair and then consulting with Mr. Reyes. The goal of the new changes is to ensure that department chairs are notified of the infractions and are consulted in the process. Dr. Neebe added, “Depending on what the nature of the infraction is, it goes to Mr. Quatlebaum.” She emphasizes the importance of separating disciplinary action from the student's learning process. Moreover, she added that the students' learning remains a priority and that the process for an infraction of the academic integrity policy will remain a separate issue. The main goal of the policy changes is “to help dissuade students from making poor choices,” Dr. Neebe said. The new policy changes are also in place to hold students accountable for their actions and doing the learning. Dr. Neebe states that the reason students do not get an automatic zero is that “we want to make sure you’re held to the task of doing the learning.” For example, if a student were to cheat on a quiz, they would be retaking it instead of just getting an automatic zero. However, there is a grade penalty for cheating, meaning, students are given a second chance to demonstrate their knowledge but an academic penalty is given. Students must put in the hard work of learning and “cheating won’t be an easy out.” The school has been working diligently to prevent cheating and has used W period as a way to work with the 9th and 10th grades about the importance of academic integrity. The policy changes are designed to not hinder students' learning and keep the disciplinary action separate. 

Aside from faculty, the students at SHP share a wide variety of opinions regarding the new policy changes. Armin Hamrah ‘23 thinks that new “absences and homework policies [are] a good reminder to students that we have a good education [and] help instill new habits.” He finds that the stricter tardy and homework policies prevent students from submitting late assignments and being late to classes, unlike in years prior. Furthermore, he believes the extended passing periods are a good thing because they “give students a way to transition between topics in class [and]…you don't have to try sprinting to your next class.” Although he agrees with the ten minute passing periods, he expresses his dissatisfaction with the short lunch period as well as a five minute passing period after lunch instead of a ten minute passing period. Armin views the new policy changes as beneficial to the school as a whole. Jad Azmeh ‘26 explained that having a strict tardy policy is extremely important and “time and learning at this school is super valuable.” He believes that enforcing a stricter tardy policy keeps students engaged and ready for class, and does not waste precious class time. Jad claims that having ten minute passing periods is beneficial to students' learning because they are not given any other breaks besides lunch throughout the day. Finally, when informed of the new retake policy which pertains to instances of academic dishonesty, Jad believes that it is a good thing that students will not receive an automatic zero. Although there is a penalty, he believes that giving a student a zero does not “reflect their understanding and comprehension of the material” and giving them a chance to retake “is valuable to show what they have been learning in the class.”