1.2.1

Section 1 — The New Grading Model

The New Grading Model — Why CPA Changed

CPA grades students differently than many traditional schools. This page explains why the model changed and what it means for you.

The problem with the old way

For a long time, grades at most schools were based mainly on submitted work — essays, worksheets, quizzes, and tests. That worked when the only way to complete an assignment was to actually do it yourself.

Today, AI tools can produce a finished essay, a complete worksheet, or correct quiz answers in seconds. A grade based purely on submitted work can no longer tell the difference between a student who genuinely learned and one who had a machine do the work.

CPA's response was not to build a bigger AI detection system. Instead, CPA asked a more important question: what does it actually mean to learn something — and how do we measure that?

"The real question is no longer whether the work got done. It is whether you actually learned anything."

The solution: a holistic model

CPA's new grading model measures six categories. Together they give a complete picture of who you are as a student — not just what you scored on a quiz.

The most important thing to understand: your grade is earned in your scheduled meeting with your teacher. A student might try to sneak by with submitting AI-generated work and even score well in the digital textbook — but if the student cannot explain the material live in their meeting, that gap shows up in their grade.

The six categories at a glance

Category	Tier	Weight	What it measures
Curriculum Grade	Class	40%	Your quiz, test, and activity scores in the digital textbook. The largest single category.
Meeting Content — Learning Verification	Class	30%	Can you explain and defend what you learned in your scheduled meeting? The most important Tier 2 category.
Assigned Work Completion	Class	10%	Did you complete the assigned work for each section?
Meeting Attendance	Holistic	10%	Did you show up on time and prepared for your scheduled meeting?
Regular Engagement	Holistic	5%	Did you engage consistently through the DDF and digital textbook?
Faith-Based Community Values in Action (Faith-in-Action)	Holistic	5%	Did you put your faith-based values into practice this section?
Total		100%

Two tiers

Tier 2 — Class-specific categories (curriculum grade, assigned work, learning verification) are calculated separately for each course you are taking.

Tier 1 — Holistic categories (meeting attendance, regular engagement, faith-in-action) apply equally to every course you are enrolled in. These categories measure you as a whole person — your character, consistency, and community engagement follow you across all your classes. The Meeting Prep Survey — completed in your separate Meeting Prep class before every meeting — is how your teacher assesses the holistic tier categories.