Biloxi High School

As of July 26, 2023

Greetings parents, guardians, and students: 

I am very excited about being a partner in education with you at Biloxi High School.  Computer Science is essential in this day and age, and it is great to be able to be a part of continuing this program at BHS.  I expect this year to be a challenging, rewarding, educational, and positive experience that could lead students to an interest in a technology field career.

Classroom Expectations 

• Classroom expectations are outlined in the School-Wide Discipline Plan

Discipline (per School-Wide Discipline Plan)

• 1st Offense: Warning / Student Conference 

• 2nd Offense: After-school Detention/Parent Contact

• 3rd Offense: After-school Detention/Parent Contact

• 4th Offense: Office Referral*

*Please note that some offenses such as skipping, vulgar language, and physical threats are immediate referrals and unethical hacking must be referred directly to the office*

Course and Classroom Classroom Information 

This course uses the codehs.com Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) Python course approved by the AP College Board. 

Course Expectations:

• Students are required to establish an AP College Board account, and the class code will be provided in Google Classroom. Students that are new to the AP College Board are encouraged to establish the AP College Board account with a personal email to avoid issues in the event of a movement away from Biloxi. Those that have existing AP College Board accounts will use their existing accounts. 

• Students must take the AP CSP Exam at the end of the school year. Not completing the exam could prevent the weighted average incentive of an AP course, and earn a zero test grade in the 4th term gradebook. There are no AP Exam makeup options.

• Students are required to take and pay the appropriate fee to take the AP CSP Exam. The 2022-2023 school year fee was $75 or $35 for those qualifying for reduced lunch. The fee is typically due by March 31. Information will be distributed in February. 

• The AP CSP Exam consists of two (2) parts: a performance task and a multiple-choice exam. The performance task counts as 30% of the AP Exam grade, and the multiple-choice counts as 70%. Students will be given the recommended class time to complete the Performance Task per the AP Exam manual. Students will take the multiple choice exam during a school day in the testing hall or per administration instructions.

• The AP CSP Exam Performance Tasks require three (3) submissions on the AP College Board student account. The submissions are a pdf file of code the student develops, a one-minute video of the code, and answers typed onto the College Board website. Students must submit a screenshot showing all three (3) items are completed. 

• An example of a screenshot of the AP CSP Performance Task completion from the student AP College Board account:

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Grading

• Grades will be updated in the online grading system, SAM Spectra (the district’s online grading platform). Students will be required to monitor their grades. Parents also have access to the online grade system to monitor grades. Please feel comfortable emailing eric.sanchez@biloxischools.net. Visit the biloxischools.net website and find the “grades” link.

• Activity grades will be earned by completing activities per the assignments in Google Classroom, which prompts the students to the codehs.com website.

• Test grades will be earned by completing activities on the codehs.com website and teacher-made tests throughout the year.

• Grades that show up as a “1” in the online grade book mean the student must do the work.  A “1” significantly lowers the student average until the assignment is completed.

• An “NM” is a “no mark” that will not affect the student’s overall grade. There may be rare cases where a blank or missing grade is used. I will never replace a blank grade with a “0” or a “1”, which lowers the overall average. A “0” in this class can only be earned by cheating.  Refusing to complete work will result in a “1” in the grade book. 

• Communication: Real-time online grade book provides a midterm progress report and a term progress report. Phone and email communication are always available.  The best method is to email for the fastest response and a follow-up phone call or in-person conference if needed.

Make-up Work

• Students that fall behind in completing requirements in codehs.com will receive an email to identify the items that need focus. The parents will be notified on the Cc line. Late work will be docked 3 points a day for a maximum of 30 docked points. Students may earn back to a 97 by attending after-school tutor sessions. Each tutor session is worth 9 lost points. Students may work on any activities outside of class as long as they can access the internet.

• Students may make up work until the day that grades are due for final exemptions at the end of the school year. Large portions of work credit are not guaranteed if students do not give the teacher time to meet the grade deadline as the teacher's grade book is locked by admin. Students will email the teacher to inform the teacher what particular assignments required a grade update. Note the late work in the first paragraph. 

• The standard test grades will be made up per the handbook's make-up policies.

Yearly Overview:  The CS Principles Conceptual Framework developed by the College Board outlines five “Big Ideas” about computing which are further subdivided into Enduring Understanding, Learning Objectives, and Essential Knowledge Statements. The framework further identifies six “Computational  Thinking Practices,” containing skills that students should employ and develop. The curriculum is designed such that students investigate each of these big ideas while practicing computational thinking practices.  

Unit 1 Digital Information: Explore how computers store complex information like numbers, text, images, and sound and debate the impact of digitizing information. 

Unit 2 The Internet: Learn about how the Internet works and discuss its impact on politics, culture, and the economy. 

Unit 3 Intro to App Design: Design your first app while learning fundamental programming concepts and collaborative software development processes. 

Unit 4 Variables, Conditionals, and Functions: Expand the types of apps you can create by adding the ability to store information, make decisions, and better organize code. Build apps that use large amounts of information and pull in data from the web to create a wider variety of apps. 

Unit 5 Lists, Loops, and Traversals 

Unit 6 Algorithms: Design and analyze algorithms to understand how they work and why some are considered better than others. 

Unit 7 Parameters, Return, and Libraries: Learn how to design clean and reusable code that you can share with a single classmate or the entire world. 

Unit 8 Create: PT Prep Practice and complete the Create Performance Task (PT). 

Unit 9 Data: Explore and visualize datasets from a wide variety of topics as you hunt for patterns and try to learn more about the world around you. 

Unit 10 Cybersecurity and Global Impacts: Research and debate current events at the intersection of data, public policy, law, ethics, and societal impact. 

General Classroom Expectations:  

• The class will focus on electronic delivery, minimizing the need for paper.  Specifically, the course material will be on the codehs.com website to provide the tools to practice developing code in a safe digital environment.

• Cell phones or other electronic devices can be a distraction if not used properly.  We will use the student Chromebook and the classroom systems daily. Cell phones are the last resort and only after the teacher approves the use. //END//