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The ICDL Graduate School ensures that students who graduate from its doctoral program have developed competent critical thinking and analytical skills to allow them to integrate theory, research, and practice in the fields of infant mental health, early child education, child protection, developmental disorders, family systems and counseling.
Academic progress will be measured according to the following grading system:
LETTER GRADE |
GRADE POINT |
PERCENT RANGE |
DEFINITION |
A
|
4.00
|
93-100
|
Outstanding achievement; Original or excellent, demonstrating high competence, critical thinking, analytical skills, and participation
|
A- |
3.67 |
90-92 |
Excellent achievement |
B+ |
3.33 |
87-89
|
Very good achievement |
B
|
3.00
|
83-86
|
Good achievement; Substantial in quality, demonstrating basic competence, critical thinking, analytical skills, and participation |
B-
|
2.67
|
80-82
|
Average achievement
|
C+ |
2.33 |
77-79 |
Marginal achievement; not acceptable for doctoral level work
|
C
|
2.00 |
73-76 |
Marginal achievement; not acceptable for doctoral level work |
C- |
1.67 |
70-72 |
Unsatisfactory achievement; not acceptable for doctoral level work |
F |
0.00 |
<69 |
Failing grade; competence has not been demonstrated, course must be retaken |
In addition to the above grades for which there are numerical equivalents, the following grades are also in use:
I: Incomplete academic work for unforeseeable emergency and justifiable reasons. It is a temporary notation to be replaced by instructor’s final grade.
IP: In Progress. Denotes class extends beyond end of normal term and final grade awaits course completion.
W: Withdrawal
CR: Credit
NC: No credit
Critical thinking and analytical skills are promoted throughout the curriculum and evaluated through the different grading evaluations and assessments. Midterm and final exams include questions that require elaboration, analytical skills, and critical thinking, usually by using case studies and vignettes. Analytical skills and critical thinking are also a part of the evaluation rubric for final papers, which are required for many courses. Critical thinking and analytical skills are encouraged through online forum discussions, where students are graded on their level of participation. Lastly, each course includes anticipated measurable outcomes that include the development of critical thinking and analytical skills.
Periodic reviews are held to monitor the academic progress for each student. Adequate progress is defined as having completed each course with a grade of 'B' or better, or having made other major academic progress, such as the completion of a dissertation within a one-year period. During each review period an analysis is conducted by a faculty member to review the progress of the student. Together, the student and faculty member develop clear objectives and timelines to achieve the desired academic goals. If a student continues to have difficulty in achieving satisfactory academic progress after a second review period, and/or has failed one or more courses, a special commission reviews the student’s case. The ICDL Faculty Advisor, the Chief Academic Officer, and a third ICDL faculty member (chosen by the student from a course in which he/she had an acceptable performance), comprises the special commission. The special commission will review and document the student-specific objectives and place the student on academic probation for the following semester. If at the the objectives outlined by the special commission have not been achieved at the subsequent review, the commission will remove the student from the program unless substantial mitigating circumstances exist.
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