Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

COUNSELOR'S DESK

by Donald Crane

There are times when the knowledge one has worked hard is the only apparent reward for one's labor. Then, there are times when hard work has a very joyful and visible reward.

At Prescott High School, we are continually trying to develop means of rewarding students for good work. Currently, we still have not conceived a plan to adequately reward students who perform well on the Stanford-9 achievement tests. This year's state-tested group (sophomores) did much better, and we are considering possible rewards. As of this date, we haven't received results from other classes not part of the statewide testing.

But I am happy to announce there is a big and immediate "bonus" for all of our students who have worked hard and attended regularly up to this time. I speak of the test exemption guidelines listed on page 43 of our student handbook.

To explain, I must list the firs term test schedule for next week. Term finals for periods three and four will be Thursday, Dec. 19. Finals for periods one and two will be Friday, Dec. 20.

This is a change from the periods and dates listed on the monthly calendar published in this column a couple of weeks ago. Since school will be dismissed at 2 p.m. Friday, a problem would result with fourth period testing. Therefore, the periods were switched.

Now, this is where a reward comes about. Our policy for test exemption states any student who has earned an "A" and not missed more than three days is exempt from finals.

This means a student who has the "A" and a perfect attendance will not have to be present the entire week. The three absences for the student would be Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and the "A" average means they don't have to take tests Thursday and Friday.

This students gets a three-week Christmas vacation. Students with "Bs" and "C's" and perfect attendance are also rewarded; however, each lower letter grade reduces the number of days by one. For a "C," the student may only miss one day.

A quick definition of the term "absence" may be in order here. As it relates to test exemption, the only excused absence is one in which the school requires the student to miss a certain class period or perhaps an entire day of classes. Examples of this would be the executive business games for FBLA or students who leave early in the day to participate in band and/or athletics.

Any other absence, including certified illness, would still count against those days for test exemption, even though they may be termed "excused" in the fact they are still legitimate reasons for missing school.

Regular attendance has always been a problem for many at our school, and I will be the first to argue the above policy is more than fair. It should also be a great incentive for good students to do even better. For too many, the primary reason for poor grades is poor attendance.

Good work and good attendance are evidence of good character, self-discipline and self-motivation. These traits will carry rewards on down the line. But to encourage and instill these traits in more students, they must be rewarded now.