ECGP Policies

EARLY COLLEGE GRADUATION PROGRAM (ECGP) Policies

ECGP Academic Policy 2024-2025 – HWCDSB

Software Engineering (P-TECH) and Advanced Manufacturing (AAM)

 

Academic Policies and Procedures

Summary: This document outlines policies for the promotion and withdrawal of ECGP students, as well as the procedure for administering supplemental assessments. The policies below should guide decisions around promotion and withdrawal, and provide a consistent decision-making framework. Where possible, the policies below have been adapted from Mohawk College’s Program Promotion and Graduation Requirements Policy. However, as ECGP is a unique program and does not follow the traditional post-secondary structure and delivery, some of the policies outlined here have been designed specifically for ECGP.

In this policy:

 

Policy Applicability: 

This policy document applies to the college-delivered curriculum of team-taught ECGP courses or courses which are entirely college-delivered through the ECGP program.

  1. For team-taught ECGP courses (that is, courses in which college course content is taught by a college professor or instructor, and closely matched secondary course content is taught by a secondary school teacher), the policies herein refer only to the college-delivered portion of the course (referred to in this document as “college-delivered course”). Student achievement is recorded on a college record, using the course code and credit value assigned by the College.
  2. For Ontario secondary school curriculum, Ministry of Education assessment and evaluation policy applies, as set out in Growing success: assessment, evaluation, and reporting in Ontario schools – first edition, covering grades 1 to 12. Student achievement is recorded on the provincial report card and on the Ontario Student Transcript, using Ontario curriculum course codes and credit values and the notation “(Dual Credit)”.
  3. In team-taught courses, it is possible for students to be successful (pass with a 50% or greater) in the college curriculum, in the secondary curriculum, or in both curricula. Similarly, it is possible for students to be unsuccessful (fail with a grade less than 50%) in the college curriculum, in the secondary curriculum, or in both curricula. If a student passes both they will be promoted to the next semester or academic year. If a student fails the college curriculum, the policies for college-delivered courses (as outlined in this document) apply. If a student fails the secondary school curriculum, the Ministry of Education's assessment and evaluation policy applies, as set out in Growing success: assessment, evaluation, and reporting in Ontario schools – first edition, covering grades 1 to 12.
  4. P-TECH students enrolled in the fifth year of the program are considered full-time post-secondary students with Mohawk College. Neither the ECGP academic policy or the Ministry of Education evaluation policy apply. Fifth year P-TECH students are subject entirely to Mohawk College’s Program Promotion and Graduation Requirements Policy.

Program Promotion: 

  1. Students must pass all college-delivered courses with 50% in order to be promoted to the next semester or academic year.
  2. If a student fails a course with a grade between 40-49, students must be offered a supplemental assessment which will allow them the opportunity to obtain the minimum passing grade of 50%. Please refer to the “Supplemental Assessments” policy in this below.
  3. If a student fails a course with a grade of less than 40, they cannot be offered a supplemental. If the student is keen to continue with the program and has valid reasons to justify poor academic performance (see “Exceptional Circumstances”), a recovery plan to obtain the failed credit may be implemented. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis and should consider the student’s performance in their other high school level courses. Should the high school feel the student is not a good candidate to continue with ECGP, they will be withdrawn from the program.
  4. Unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated, ECGP students cannot re-take a course with the next year’s cohort (e.g., if a student fails a course in grade 9, they cannot re-take that course when they are in grade 10).

Graduation Requirements: 

  1. In addition to passing all college-delivered courses, ECGP students must have a weighted GPA (grade point average) of 60% as per the College’s requirements for students who are part of a Program of Study (POS). P-TECH students are part of POS #649, and AAM students are part of POS #568.

  2. The weighted GPA is calculated as follows: Sum of percentage grades multiplied by the credit value divided by the sum of the credits for the courses taken as defined by the Program of Studies. 
    Example: 
    82% x 3 credits = 246 points 
    65% x 4 credits = 260 points 
    73% x 2 credits = 146 points 
    94% x 3 credits = 282 points 

    A total of 934 points divided by 12 credits = 77.8% weighted GPA. 

    Courses not assigned a numeric grade (i.e. R, E, CR, AU, etc.) are not considered in the calculation of the weighted GPA.

Supplemental Assessments: 

  1. It is mandatory for college faculty to provide a supplemental assessment for any student who fails a course with a grade of between 40-49.
  2. Supplementals are to be administered after the final exam period. Even in the case where a student has failed the course before writing the final exam (i.e., passing the exam with 100% would still result in a failing grade), the supplemental must be administered after the exam.
  3. In the event that a college faculty member cannot administer a supplemental assessment due to an expired contract, the supplemental assessment, along with a detailed and clear answer key, is to be provided to the administration team who will then coordinate with the school board to schedule the student’s supplemental. The program administration team may alter the student’s final grade after a supplemental has been written.
  4. Supplemental assessments and answer keys should be provided to the program administration team at least one week before the final exam period begins.
  5. There are no restrictions placed on the format of the supplemental; the faculty will choose a format (test, take-home assignment, etc.) that best suits the course outcomes.
  6. The following criteria must be observed for all supplemental assessments:
    1. A student need only pass the supplemental with a grade of 50% in order to be granted the minimum passing grade in the course (also 50%).
    2. The supplemental must be cumulative and assess all course outcomes as specified in the course outline.
    3. The distribution of questions in the supplemental should be proportionate to the time spent and/or the weighting of the course units, sections, etc. For example, if Unit 1 represented 25% of the course, then approximately 25% of the marks in the supplemental should be based on Unit 1.
    4. The difficulty level of the supplemental should be in line with the assessments administered for the course.
  7. The following question types are recommended for a supplemental assessment as they are objective and can be marked by someone who is not a subject matter expert:
    1. Multiple choice
    2. Multi-select
    3. Matching
    4. Fill in the blank
    5. True False
    6. Labelling
    7. Short answer
  8. Students cannot redo a supplemental assessment, they are allowed only one attempt.
  9. It must be made clear to students that should they elect not to write a supplemental, they will be withdrawn from the program.
  10. There are no limits to the number of supplementals a student can write over the length of the program.

Program Withdrawals: 

  1. Students will be withdrawn from the ECGP program if they fail a college level course with a grade of less than 50% and are not successful on the supplemental assessment. In exceptional circumstances (see Program Promotions (3)), a recovery plan may be implemented.
  2. Students may be withdrawn from the ECGP program as a result of academic integrity violations in accordance with the College’s Academic Integrity Policy.
  3. Students may be withdrawn from the ECGP program as a result of behavioural misconduct in accordance with the College’s Student Behaviour Policy.’

At-risk Student Tracking: 

  1. The program administration team will collect a list of at-risk students from college faculty halfway through the semester. At-risk students are defined as students who are currently failing one or more courses and/or have a cumulative weighted GPA of less than 60%.
  2. It will be communicated to at-risk students that they are at risk of failing the course/courses or that their GPA is below 60%. In this communication, students should be informed of:
    1. Any options they have to receive extra help or tutoring
    2. What their current grades are for any failing courses
    3. What their current GPA (cumulative for the program and weighted by credit value) is
    4. What grade they will need to average on remaining assessments in the course/courses in order to pass
  3. GPAs will be calculated for students entering year five of the P-TECH program. If a student has a GPA of less than 60% at this time, a meeting will be scheduled with the program team and the following options will be provided to the student:
    1. Option 1: Proceed to year five with the understanding that they must achieve certain grades in their year five courses in order to bring their GPA up to 60%.
    2. Option 2: Graduate with the Programming Foundations Certificate and do not proceed to year five.
    3. Option 3: Remain in high school for an additional year in order to obtain the necessary GPA of 60%. If this option is selected, the program team and school boards will work together to strategically select courses the student can re-rake in order to obtain the necessary GPA. If the student is at least 18 years old, they may be eligible to take certain courses through Continuing Education at Mohawk College.
  4. Students who apply to graduate from the AAM program in Grade 12 and do not have a 60% cumulative GPA will have the option to remain in high school for an additional year or semester in order to bring their AAM GPA up to 60%. If this option is selected, the program team and school boards will work together to strategically select courses the student can re-rake in order to obtain the necessary GPA. At the time of this policy review, AAM courses are not offered through Mohawk College Continuing Education.

Exceptional Circumstances: 

  1. If a student demonstrates exceptional circumstances beyond their control which inhibit their academic performance, the following allowances may be made upon consultation with faculty, school boards, and the program administration team as required:
    1. Development of a recovery plan as described in Program Promotions (3)
    2. Extensions on assignments
    3. Rescheduling of tests and exams
  2. Exceptional circumstances may include but are not limited to the following:
    1. Food insecurity
    2. Housing insecurity and/or unstable household
    3. Challenges to accessing transportation
    4. Family and/or elder care
    5. Medical illness including psychological/mental illness and addiction
    6. Family emergencies including critical illness and death
  3. Students are allowed to request up to two academic allowances per course (allowances include test re-scheduling, assignment extensions, or other makeup/recovery strategies) without documentation, provided they speak with their instructor and provide a valid reason for requesting an allowance. Upon a third request for an allowance, and for any allowances thereafter, the student will be forwarded to the program coordinator, and they may be required to provide documentation or register with Accessible Learning Services, before any allowances are made. For students who are minors, a parent/guardian may provide documentation on their behalf.
  4. Documentation should not be provided directly to faculty. In the case where documentation is needed, faculty should advise the student or the student’s parent/guardian to provide documentation to the program coordinator.

Individual Education Plan (IEP) Accommodations: 

  1. For students in secondary school with an Individual Education Plan (IEP), special education strategies, resources, and other accommodations to support the student in achieving the course goals and learning expectations will be adhered to, as per the Ministry of Education's Special Education in Ontario Kindergarten to Grade 12 Policy and Resource Guide.

Academic Appeals: 

  1. ECGP students may submit an academic appeal in accordance with the College’s Academic Appeal Policy Academic Appeal Policy.

ECGP Academic Policy 2024-2025 – HWDSB

Software Engineering (P-TECH) and Advanced Manufacturing (AAM)

 

Academic Policies and Procedures

Summary: This document outlines policies for the promotion and withdrawal of ECGP students, as well as the procedure for administering supplemental assessments. The policies below should guide decisions around promotion and withdrawal, and provide a consistent decision-making framework. Where possible, the policies below have been adapted from Mohawk College’s Program Promotion and Graduation Requirements Policy. However, as ECGP is a unique program and does not follow the traditional post-secondary structure and delivery, some of the policies outlined here have been designed specifically for ECGP.

In this policy:

 

Policy Applicability: 

This policy document applies to the college-delivered curriculum of team-taught ECGP courses or courses which are entirely college-delivered through the ECGP program.

  1. For team-taught ECGP courses (that is, courses in which college course content is taught by a college professor or instructor, and closely matched secondary course content is taught by a secondary school teacher), the policies herein refer only to the college-delivered portion of the course (referred to in this document as “college-delivered course”). Student achievement is recorded on a college record, using the course code and credit value assigned by the College.
  2. For Ontario secondary school curriculum, Ministry of Education assessment and evaluation policy applies, as set out in Growing success: assessment, evaluation, and reporting in Ontario schools – first edition, covering grades 1 to 12. Student achievement is recorded on the provincial report card and on the Ontario Student Transcript, using Ontario curriculum course codes and credit values and the notation “(Dual Credit)”.
  3. In team-taught courses, it is possible for students to be successful (pass with a 50% or greater) in the college curriculum, in the secondary curriculum, or in both curricula. Similarly, it is possible for students to be unsuccessful (fail with a grade less than 50%) in the college curriculum, in the secondary curriculum, or in both curricula. If a student passes both they will be promoted to the next semester or academic year. If a student fails the college curriculum, the policies for college-delivered courses (as outlined in this document) apply. If a student fails the secondary school curriculum, the Ministry of Education's assessment and evaluation policy applies, as set out in Growing success: assessment, evaluation, and reporting in Ontario schools – first edition, covering grades 1 to 12.
  4. P-TECH students enrolled in the fifth year of the program are considered full-time post-secondary students with Mohawk College. Neither the ECGP academic policy or the Ministry of Education evaluation policy apply. Fifth year P-TECH students are subject entirely to Mohawk College’s Program Promotion and Graduation Requirements Policy.

Program Promotion: 

  1. Students must pass all college-delivered courses with 50% in order to be promoted to the next semester or academic year.
  2. If a student fails a course with a grade between 40-49, students must be offered a supplemental assessment which will allow them the opportunity to obtain the minimum passing grade of 50%. Please refer to the “Supplemental Assessments” policy in this below.
  3. If a student fails a course with a grade of less than 40, they cannot be offered a supplemental. If the student is keen to continue with the program and has valid reasons to justify poor academic performance (see “Exceptional Circumstances”), a recovery plan to obtain the failed credit may be implemented. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis and should consider the student’s performance in their other high school level courses. Should the high school feel the student is not a good candidate to continue with ECGP, they will be withdrawn from the program.
  4. Unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated, ECGP students cannot re-take a course with the next year’s cohort (e.g., if a student fails a course in grade 9, they cannot re-take that course when they are in grade 10).

Graduation Requirements: 

  1. In addition to passing all college-delivered courses, ECGP students must have a weighted GPA (grade point average) of 60% as per the College’s requirements for students who are part of a Program of Study (POS). P-TECH students are part of POS #649, and AAM students are part of POS #568.

  2. The weighted GPA is calculated as follows: Sum of percentage grades multiplied by the credit value divided by the sum of the credits for the courses taken as defined by the Program of Studies. 
    Example: 
    82% x 3 credits = 246 points 
    65% x 4 credits = 260 points 
    73% x 2 credits = 146 points 
    94% x 3 credits = 282 points 

    A total of 934 points divided by 12 credits = 77.8% weighted GPA. 

    Courses not assigned a numeric grade (i.e. R, E, CR, AU, etc.) are not considered in the calculation of the weighted GPA.

Supplemental Assessments: 

  1. It is mandatory for college faculty to provide a supplemental assessment for any student who fails a course with a grade of between 40-49.
  2. Supplementals are to be administered after the final exam period. Even in the case where a student has failed the course before writing the final exam (i.e., passing the exam with 100% would still result in a failing grade), the supplemental must be administered after the exam.
  3. In the event that a college faculty member cannot administer a supplemental assessment due to an expired contract, the supplemental assessment, along with a detailed and clear answer key, is to be provided to the administration team who will then coordinate with the school board to schedule the student’s supplemental. The program administration team may alter the student’s final grade after a supplemental has been written.
  4. Supplemental assessments and answer keys should be provided to the program administration team at least one week before the final exam period begins.
  5. There are no restrictions placed on the format of the supplemental; the faculty will choose a format (test, take-home assignment, etc.) that best suits the course outcomes.
  6. The following criteria must be observed for all supplemental assessments:
    1. A student need only pass the supplemental with a grade of 50% in order to be granted the minimum passing grade in the course (also 50%).
    2. The supplemental must be cumulative and assess all course outcomes as specified in the course outline.
    3. The distribution of questions in the supplemental should be proportionate to the time spent and/or the weighting of the course units, sections, etc. For example, if Unit 1 represented 25% of the course, then approximately 25% of the marks in the supplemental should be based on Unit 1.
    4. The difficulty level of the supplemental should be in line with the assessments administered for the course.
  7. The following question types are recommended for a supplemental assessment as they are objective and can be marked by someone who is not a subject matter expert:
    1. Multiple choice
    2. Multi-select
    3. Matching
    4. Fill in the blank
    5. True False
    6. Labelling
    7. Short answer
  8. Students cannot redo a supplemental assessment, they are allowed only one attempt.
  9. It must be made clear to students that should they elect not to write a supplemental, they will be withdrawn from the program.
  10. There are no limits to the number of supplementals a student can write over the length of the program.

Program Withdrawals: 

  1. Students will be withdrawn from the ECGP program if they fail a college level course with a grade of less than 50% and are not successful on the supplemental assessment. In exceptional circumstances (see Program Promotions (3)), a recovery plan may be implemented.
  2. Students may be withdrawn from the ECGP program as a result of academic integrity violations in accordance with the College’s Academic Integrity Policy.
  3. Students may be withdrawn from the ECGP program as a result of behavioural misconduct in accordance with the College’s Student Behaviour Policy.’

At-risk Student Tracking: 

  1. The program administration team will collect a list of at-risk students from college faculty halfway through the semester. At-risk students are defined as students who are currently failing one or more courses and/or have a cumulative weighted GPA of less than 60%.
  2. It will be communicated to at-risk students that they are at risk of failing the course/courses or that their GPA is below 60%. In this communication, students should be informed of:
    1. Any options they have to receive extra help or tutoring
    2. What their current grades are for any failing courses
    3. What their current GPA (cumulative for the program and weighted by credit value) is
    4. What grade they will need to average on remaining assessments in the course/courses in order to pass
  3. GPAs will be calculated for students entering year five of the P-TECH program. If a student has a GPA of less than 60% at this time, a meeting will be scheduled with the program team and the following options will be provided to the student:
    1. Option 1: Proceed to year five with the understanding that they must achieve certain grades in their year five courses in order to bring their GPA up to 60%.
    2. Option 2: Graduate with the Programming Foundations Certificate and do not proceed to year five.
    3. Option 3: Remain in high school for an additional year in order to obtain the necessary GPA of 60%. If this option is selected, the program team and school boards will work together to strategically select courses the student can re-rake in order to obtain the necessary GPA. If the student is at least 18 years old, they may be eligible to take certain courses through Continuing Education at Mohawk College.
  4. Students who apply to graduate from an AAM program in grade 12 and do not have a 60% cumulative average GPA may still have the opportunity to graduate from the AAM program. Mohawk College will recommend to the school board that the student remains in high school in order to bring their AAM GPA up to 60%. It is at the discretion of the school board to accommodate this request.

Exceptional Circumstances: 

  1. If a student demonstrates exceptional circumstances beyond their control which inhibit their academic performance, the following allowances may be made upon consultation with faculty, school boards, and the program administration team as required:
    1. Development of a recovery plan as described in Program Promotions (3)
    2. Extensions on assignments
    3. Rescheduling of tests and exams
  2. Exceptional circumstances may include but are not limited to the following:
    1. Food insecurity
    2. Housing insecurity and/or unstable household
    3. Challenges to accessing transportation
    4. Family and/or elder care
    5. Medical illness including psychological/mental illness and addiction
    6. Family emergencies including critical illness and death
  3. Students are allowed to request up to two academic allowances per course (allowances include test re-scheduling, assignment extensions, or other makeup/recovery strategies) without documentation, provided they speak with their instructor and provide a valid reason for requesting an allowance. Upon a third request for an allowance, and for any allowances thereafter, the student will be forwarded to the program coordinator, and they may be required to provide documentation or register with Accessible Learning Services, before any allowances are made. For students who are minors, a parent/guardian may provide documentation on their behalf.
  4. Documentation should not be provided directly to faculty. In the case where documentation is needed, faculty should advise the student or the student’s parent/guardian to provide documentation to the program coordinator and the school guidance counsellor.

Individual Education Plan (IEP) Accommodations: 

  1. For students in secondary school with an Individual Education Plan (IEP), special education strategies, resources, and other accommodations to support the student in achieving the course goals and learning expectations will be adhered to, as per the Ministry of Education's Special Education in Ontario Kindergarten to Grade 12 Policy and Resource Guide.

Academic Appeals: 

  1. ECGP students may submit an academic appeal in accordance with the College’s Academic Appeal Policy Academic Appeal Policy.

Contact Us

Eryka Stewart

Manager, Early College Initiatives

eryka.stewart [at] mohawkcollege.ca (Email Eryka)

 

Brittney Glass
Research and Project Coordinator

brittney.glass [at] mohawkcollege.ca (Email Brittney)

 

Tanya Kowalewicz

Program Support and Outreach Officer

tanya.kowalewicz [at] mohawkcollege.ca (Email Tanya)