Congratulations to Isela Velazquez for finishing 14th at the JROTC Rifle Team National Championship.  She finished as the #1 overall Army JROTC shooter in the nation, but unfortunately was out-shot by individual shooters from the Marines and the Navy for the overall National Championship.  

The marksmanship competition began in October with over 8000 JROTC cadets entering the contest.  After several elimination rounds, the number was reduced to the top 119 shooters who were invited to compete this past week for the national championship in Ohio. 

Isela is a Junior at Paschal and hopes to repeat her outstanding performance next year.

Attendance

State law says you cannot get credit for a class if you have too many absences, even if you made a 100%!

How many absences is "too many?" 

more than 10% of instructional days in the semester (i.e. current year = 10+ unexcused absences) = 0.0 credit - NO exceptions!

Grades/Credits

You have to pass your classes in order to receive credit.  Students receive 0.5 credits per semester they pass so long as they maintain acceptable attendance.

Averaging

If you fail the first semester (A) of a year-long class, you can recover the credit by earning a high enough grade in the second semester (B) of the course to equal a year-long average of a 70%.

Ex:       Algebra 1A = 65%

     Algebra 1B = 75%

70% average for the year, so 1.0 credit for Algebra 1

If you fail the first semester (A) of a year-long class, but do not earn a high enough grade in the second semester (B) of the course to equal a year-long average of a 70%, then you will have to retake the failing semester(s) to earn credit.

Ex:       Algebra 1A = 65%

                 Algebra 1B = 70%

67.5% average for the year, so 0.5 credit for Algebra 1B only and have to retake Algebra 1A

If you pass the first semester (A) of a year-long class, but fail it the second semester (B), then you have to retake the second semester to earn credit even if the year-long average is a 70%.

Ex:       Algebra 1A = 75%

                 Algebra 1B = 65%

only 0.5 credit for Algebra 1A, have to retake Algebra 1B

Final exams are worth 10% of your semester grade, 25% for honor-level courses.

Teachers do not need to give a minimum grade.  If you earn a 40% in the class, you will receive a 40% on your report card/transcript.

There is no "automatic promotion."  If you do not earn enough credits to get promoted to the next grade level, you will not be promoted (6.0 = 10th, 12.0 = 11th, 19.0 = 12th, 26.0 = graduate).

EOCs

You are required to pass 5 STAAR End-of-Course (EOC) exams.  These include:

English 1

English 2

Biology

Algebra 1

US History

If you do not pass all 5 EOCs, you cannot graduate, even if you have all of your credits.