This year NDA changed the way in which first and second honors are earned by students in response to the new diocesan grade scale and because of the change in how semester exams fit into the overall grade. Because the grade scale changed, the criteria for first and second honors were revised. A student now earns First Honors if she has an average weighted scholastic mark of 95 or higher and no weighted scholastic mark (M1/M2) below 90 and has no incomplete grades. The new criteria for Second Honors are an average weighted scholastic mark of 85 or higher and no weighted scholastic mark (M1/M2) below 80 and no incomplete grades.
In previous years the exam grades were incorporated into the second and fourth quarter grades. This year the exam grades (E1 and E2) are being calculated separately. Because we wanted to include the exam grades in the honor roll calculations, the recognition of first and second honors changed from being done each quarter to taking place now only at the end of the semesters.
The delay in posting honors after the end second quarter results from the time given to the faculty to finalize and verify the accuracy of the grades submitted to PowerSchool and then the processing of the report cards. Also, honors are delayed to allow students an additional two weeks to make up incomplete work that would otherwise disqualify them from academic honors as described above.
The First Honors and Second Honors lists for the first semester are now posted in the display case in the main hallway. They are also available on the NDA Website under both the Academics tab (Academics > Honors) and Student Life tab. (Student Life > Student Recognition > B.E.S.T. Award and Honor Roll. The direct link is:
https://www.ndapandas.org/student-life/student-recognition/best-award-and-honor-roll.aspx