Thread: Contracts for grades?

I have several students who are considerably above grade level in Language Arts and I'm considering using a contract with these students so they can progress at their own rate with certain expectations required to earn a certain grade. My problem is: I'm not sure how much evidence (completed work) I should require of them. I am looking at providing a pretest of new concepts taught in class... such as grammar and punctuation, and allowing those who demonstrate proficiency to go on to other work while the class works on the skill.

I teach 8th grade and would love input from others as to what would be reasonable goals for them to attain in a trimester.

Also, I have one student who is doing a school newspaper and a piece for the local newpaper on school news. I feel this student should get "credit" for this in their language arts class, but I'm unsure how to do that. Anyone had any experience with this?

I certainly intend to keep a protfolio ... but the grade thing has me baffled. I'm not sure what is fair to the student. If they consistently produce superior work, is it really necessary to provide a grade to coorelate to the tasks the "class" has completed? Maybe I can simply provide evidence of mastery for the grade level expectations, and document work towards higher grade levels. I guess I'm concerned that if they don't demonstrate mastery of higher level tasks some would argue that they don't derserve an A even though they are exceeding grade level expectations. Then of course, there is the fact that we calculate number grades to determine honor roll status. Yikes.

Any input you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.