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Academic Standing

Students must achieve a GPA (grade point average) of 2.00 or above each semester in attendance at Believers Academy in order to remain in good academic standing. A student whose GPA falls below 2.00 during any given semester may, at the discretion of the administration, be given the opportunity to regain good academic standing by being placed on academic (or scholastic) probation for the following semester. A student placed on scholastic probation must earn a GPA of at least 2.00 the following semester to remain in the academy and a cumulative GPA of 2.00 (either during that or subsequent semester) to return to good academic standing. If a student should earn a GPA less than 2.00 for two consecutive semesters, he may be blocked from further enrollment in classes at BA or be required to retake any classes in which he earned a grade less than 70 as a condition of continuing enrollment.

A student failing a course for a given semester may be required to repeat that course successfully before being allowed to continue enrolling in the course sequence in which the student earned the failing grade. If he then successfully completes the course, the passing grade earned will absolve the failing grade, which will be struck from the transcript. When a failing grade has been absolved in this manner, both attempts at taking the course will be noted on the transcript, but only the passing grade will be recorded, and only the passing attempt will affect the GPA. On the transcript, the failing grade of an absolved failed course will be replaced with NG (no grade).

Students may attempt to absolve a failing grade in another academic setting such as another school or a home school. In this case, students must request transfer credit through the usual channels following the successful completion of the course should they desire to have the course credit recognized by BA. If such credit is granted, it will absolve the failing grade on the student's transcript; however, both attempts will be noted, and neither the original failing course grade nor the course grade of the transferred credit will be calculated into the student's GPA. Any student, including one who has been granted transfer credit, must take an entrance test to be able to enroll in any course for which entrance testing is required, unless he has successfully completed at BA the previous course in the course sequence.

A student who earns a D (a numerical grade of 60-69 on the 100 point scale) in a course but is not required to repeat the course by reason of being on scholastic (academic) probation may nonetheless elect to repeat the affected course before continuing in the course sequence in which the D was earned. However, his enrollment in the course will be permitted only if there is sufficient space available for him after all other existing students who have earned the right to register for the course have had the opportunity to do so. Should a student elect to retake a course in which he has already earned a D and the grade earned during the second attempt is passing, both attempts at taking the course will be reported on the student's transcript, but the grade earned during the first attempt will be replaced with a grade of NG (no grade) and will then cease to affect the student's GPA (no credit will be awarded for any course in which a student has been given NG as a grade). If the grade earned during the second attempt is failing, both attempts at taking the course and both grades earned will be reported on the student's transcript, and both grades will be used to calculate the student's GPA.

Academic Incompletes

Students may be awarded a grade of I (incomplete) when circumstances beyond their control render them incapable of fulfilling all of the requirements for completing a given course by the end of the semester in which it is offered.  All grades of I must be approved by both the course instructor and the administration and must be filed with the administration according to current guidelines and procedures governing such situations.

All course requirements must be fulfilled by whatever date may be determined by the course instructor and the administration.  Any required work not completed by that date will be awarded a grade of 0.  The student's final grade will be calculated after the date given for completion of the course using whatever grading system was employed for all other students in the course (unless other arrangements have been previously made) and including all grades earned up to that time.  Course instructors must provide the administration with a description of the grading system to be used as well as any and all evaluation materials (e.g., tests and keys) necessary for completing the course.

Scheduling Assessments

A maximum of three major assessments may be scheduled for the same day at any given grade level.*  Students who have more than three major assessments scheduled for the same day because of having courses on different grade levels may be allowed, at the discretion of their teachers, to take one or more of those assessments on a different day.  Responsibility for seeking alternative testing arrangements rests with the student.

The following are not considered major assessments and so are not subject to the scheduling guidelines stated above:  unannounced assessments, assessments in which students are allowed to use texts, notes, or other information other than that which is stored in their own memory, or assessments for which no more than 25 minutes of class time have been allotted. 

*The initial digit of a course number identifies the course grade level.  For grades K-8, the initial digit corresponds to the grade level.  For high school courses (grades 9-12), 1 indicates freshman level, 2 sophomore level, 3 junior level, and 4 senior level. 

Athletic Eligibility

Believers Academy uses the TAPPS standard for academic eligibility in all high school sports. That standard states that students may not participate in TAPPS competition or contests if they are failing more than one course in a designated grading period (in our case, any given quarter). Students failing more than one course become ineligible one week after grades are issued and remain ineligible for at least a two-week period. Following that two-week period, they remain ineligible until they can demonstrate to the administration that they have a passing average for the current semester in at least all but one of their core courses (cf. Article V, number 5 of the TAPPS Constitution).

In general, junior high students will be subject to the same guidelines, although the eligibility of individual students may be determined on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the headmaster or principal.

Absences and Make-Up Work

Teachers may, at their discretion, require from parents a note explaining the reason for a student's absence before allowing the student to make up work or escape late penalties, as the case may be. Only those absences due to circumstances beyond the immediate control of the student or his or her parents, as specified below, will normally be considered excused. In the case of foreseeable absences, a teacher may regard the absence as unexcused if prior administrative approval for the absence was not secured.

Reasons for excused absences include:

  1. Personal illness. A doctor’s note may be required in the case of an extended illness (an illness lasting longer than three days).
  2. Illness or death in the immediate family. “Immediate family,” by definition, includes mother, father, siblings, and grandparents.
  3. Extenuating or unusual circumstances ascertained by the principal.

Reasons for excused foreseeable absences requiring prior administrative approval include:

  1. School sponsored events.*
  2. College visits for juniors and seniors.**
  3. Court appointments (supporting documentation may be required).
  4. Special family events or ministry or educational opportunities, as approved by the principal.

Teachers may assess grade penalties for any graded assignments completed late due to unexcused absences. These penalties may include deducted points up to and including the total point value of the assignment in question.

* “Prior approval” for any student required to participate in a planned school event (such as a member of an athletic team who is eligible to participate in athletic competitions) is automatically granted; these students do not need to personally secure prior approval. Students interested in attending a school-sponsored event but who are not required to participate in that event must first acquire administrative approval for missing classes to attend the event in order to secure an excused absence.

** The first two days of approved college visits do not accrue as absences of any sort in the student’s attendance record; subsequent approved college visits are treated as excused absences.