Terms & Conditions 2011-12

                    OXFORD TUTORIALS: TERMS & CONDITIONS
                                 REGISTRATION FOR 2011-2012

ACADEMIC POLICIES

1. Parental Responsibility: Parents are expected to take primary responsibility for their students’ education, to supervise their academic work, and to assure that assignments are completed in the required Oxford formats and by the assigned due dates. This expectation includes the monitoring of students’ exams and proofreading of essays before final submission. Students are encouraged to find at least one other reader (parent, sibling, friend) to edit their work before submitting their assignments.

2. Email Accessibility: Parents are also responsible to see that their own, and their student’s, computers and email are running properly. Please make sure that your email is running properly throughout the year.  If I've been given the wrong address, or your mailbox isn't receiving mail, I will be unable to reach you with important updates and other critical information. Please alert me immediately whenever you change your email address. Also, please remember to include your full name whenever you send me an email. I often receive messages from students without any name. I don't memorize email addresses. I usually won't know who you are unless you tell me. Thanks.

3. Due Dates: The due dates for major assignments are posted near the top of the home page at http://www.oxfordtutorials.com: "Essay Topics and Due Dates." All assignments are due in the tutor’s mailbox by midnight, PST, on the due date, unless otherwise stated. NO LATE WORK will be accepted for any reason, including illness. The rationale for this policy is twofold. In the first place, learning to meet deadlines is a critical component of academic discipline and maturity. Secondly, unlike some tutors who don't grade papers at all, or who delegate or sub-contract this function to others, I devote a considerable amount of time and attention to this task. It is my method to evaluate essays, not only on an individual basis, but in relation to class performance as a whole. Since late assignments will not be accepted, parents are therefore encouraged to see that their student’s assignments are begun early enough to be completed before the due date. It is also my policy to send students a Confirmation Notice whenever I receive a scheduled essay. Students should contact me if they send in an assignment and fail to receive a Confirmation Notice within 24 hours. Beginning in the 2008-2009 school year some of the writing assignments may be replaced by exams.

4. Weekly Quizzes: All Oxford students should be prepared for a brief, multiple choice SAT vocabulary and AP literary quiz near the beginning of each class.  All students (except Latin) will be quizzed on a published list of SAT vocabulary which I will send out before classes begin in September. All literature students will also be quizzed on a published list of AP literary terms (1st semester) and English authors (2nd semester). If you register late or have not received the SAT and AP lists by the beginning of September, please notify me at nlund@oxfordtutorials.com. Latin students will be quizzed in a similar fashion on the vocabulary in the Wheelock's textbook instead. The quizzes will be administered in the classroom. I will post one word at a time in the public screen. Students will respond using a feature called 'private chat' (so that only I can see their answers). I will keep track of students' performance. The winners for each week will be announced in each class in a 'game format' to encourage study of the vocabulary. All students except the Latin students should also be prepared for a short (usually ten questions) multiple choice READING QUIZ. I will post the questions one at a time and ask students to send me their answers via private chat in the classroom.

5. No Make-Ups: No make-up of missed classes or quizzes is possible. However, I will allow up to three (3) absences per semester. In those cases the missed quizzes will not be included in the grade average. Upon written (email) request I will provide the student with any missed class notes as well as the missed reading quiz and answer key.

6. Grade Reports: All written assignments will receive a grade and an evaluation. I will also provide a semester and year-end grade report for all students upon written request. Please visit the following page for a listing of criteria used to evaluate most essays in the Oxford Tutorials: Essay Evaluations.

7. Essay Format Requirements: There is a specific format for all written assignments. Parents are expected to see that their students' follow this format. See the following link for the format requirements.

8. Writing Help: The Oxford online tutorials are primarily literature, not writing, classes. For those families who seek additional help with writing skills I recommend my Writers' Workshop tutorial.

CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE & RULES OF BEHAVIOR
Please visit the following link for rules of behavior and classroom protocol. Students may be expelled for disrespectful, disruptive, or inappropriate behavior in the classroom. See tutorial protocol.

FEES & FINANCIAL POLICIES
When selecting a tutorial service parents are encouraged to evaluate comparable as well as distinctive tutorial features. Some tutorials emphasize lecture; others emphasize student interaction. Some offer little or no written evaluation of student work; others offer no assistance with grading. Oxford Tutorials attempts to provide a healthy balance of lecture and interaction, while providing as much interpretive background and critical feedback as possible. For an overview of Oxford distinctives please visit: Oxford's Academic Distinctives.

The cost is $ 300 per semester (tuition plus registration) or $ 600 for a full year (2 Semesters; 32 Weeks). Families who are unable to pay the full amount of tuition at the time of registration may reserve placements in the tutorials for $ 50 per tutorial (until July 1). There is a $100 discount for registrations which are paid in full ($ 500) before May 31. The due dates for payments are July 1 (for fall) and December 1 (for winter).

LATE FEES: There is late registration fee of $ 50 for registrations received after July 1,and a late payment fee of $ 50 for balance payments which are received more than two (2) weeks after the payment due dates (July 1; December 1). REFUNDS: All payments are non-refundable due to server lease commitments, except in the case of cancelled classes.

REGISTRATION
There are two options regarding registration. Registrants may either fill out the on-line registration form and send payment separately, or make a copy of the print-out registration form and mail it with your payment. If you have trouble accessing both of these forms, please contact Oxford and we can send you a registration form via email. Payment may also be made by credit card or bank transfer using the PayPal online banking service.