If your middle schooler suddenly spikes a fever and misses school on the day of a performance assessment, the first worry that comes to mind is usually, "Does that mean a zero now?" The short answer: usually not. Whether an absence is officially approved or not completely changes how it's handled, and when it is approved, the student isn't given a retake -- instead, the school calculates a separate approved score. The real trap is assuming a phone call to the school explaining the situation is enough, then missing the actual deadline for submitting supporting documents -- and losing the approval as a result. Let's walk through, in order, what documents are needed and by when, and what happens if you miss that window.

Not all missed assessments are treated the same

Middle and high school academic management guidelines split missed assessments into two categories: approved absence and unapproved absence. An approved absence is one caused by illness, an accident, or another unavoidable reason the principal recognizes; an unapproved absence is one without such a reason. Because the two are handled in opposite ways, the first thing a parent needs to determine is: "Does our child's absence actually qualify as an approved reason?"

What has to be submitted, and by when, to get it approved

Approval isn't something the school decides on its own -- it only becomes a matter for review once an absence report and supporting documents are submitted. For illness-related absences, documents issued by a medical provider -- a doctor's diagnosis, an opinion letter, or a treatment confirmation -- must be submitted within 5 days of the absence, along with the principal's approval. For a short illness absence of 2 days or less, and as long as it isn't a repeated pattern, some schools will also accept a parent's statement, a prescription, or a homeroom teacher's confirmation as supporting material. As with the process schools follow when unapproved absences repeat, there's already a baseline standard for whether an absence itself is approved, and the handling of a missed performance assessment is built on top of that standard. Deadlines and required forms vary somewhat by each school's own academic management policy, so as soon as something comes up, contact the homeroom teacher right away to confirm that school's specific deadline.

If approved, it's an 'approved score' -- not a retake

Once an absence is approved, the general rule is that the school does not call the student back in to retake the same assessment. Instead, it converts scores from other assessments already completed that same semester, using a set ratio, to produce an approved score. If a similar assessment item was given before or after the missed one, that score gets used; in the rarer case where a student missed an entire semester's worth of performance assessment items, a regular exam score may be referenced for the conversion instead. Which items get converted, and at what ratio, is decided by the school in advance -- similar to a written-exam study plan, this is typically announced early in the semester through a notice sent home or a subject-by-subject assessment plan, so keeping track of those notices means you won't be caught off guard if an absence happens.

If it isn't approved, the score can fall below the class's lowest

If an absence is instead treated as unapproved, the outcome is far harsher. A student's score for an unapproved absence is typically set at one step below the lowest score among students in that grade or track. In other words, it isn't just "a low score because you missed it" -- it's "a score lower than the lowest score in the whole class." For example, if the lowest score on a given assessment among that grade's students is 60, a student marked as unapproved-absent doesn't get 60 -- they get a score one step below that. Cases like a school-ordered attendance suspension, where the absence clearly isn't the student's fault, are in principle still treated as an approved absence eligible for a converted score -- but if the paperwork isn't filed in time, the case can slide into unapproved-absence territory regardless of the underlying reason. That's the point parents need to be most careful about.

The final decision goes through the Academic Management Committee

This isn't something a homeroom teacher or subject teacher can personally decide to approve. The approval standards and conversion method that each subject group sets are finalized only after review by the Academic Management Committee and sign-off by the principal. Because of that, don't assume everything is settled just from a phone call with the homeroom teacher -- it's worth double-checking that the submitted documents actually made it onto the committee's agenda, and when the outcome will be communicated. Committee meeting schedules vary by school, so if an absence happens right before a grading deadline, the review timeline can be tight, and some schools batch several cases together at the end of the semester, which can delay notification further.

If the absences are repeated for psychological reasons

If a student is repeatedly missing assessments not because of physical illness but because of anxiety about the assessment itself, or difficulty attending school in general, the approach needs to change. This isn't something a single form can resolve -- as with the early-response approach for when a child says they don't want to go to school, the first step is talking with the homeroom teacher or school counselor to understand the underlying cause. Score handling is a secondary issue; the priority is checking whether there's a deeper difficulty behind the repeated absences, for the sake of both the child's wellbeing and their school life.

The same logic applies in high school

Middle school and high school run different assessment systems, but the core logic for handling missed assessments -- confirming whether the reason is approved, converting to an approved score, and the penalty for an unapproved absence -- applies the same way in both. High school does add one extra layer, though: under the High School Credit System's completion standards (two-thirds attendance, 40% achievement rate), a missed assessment or incomplete coursework can affect whether a credit is earned at all -- one more thing to manage than in middle school. Even if your child is still in middle school, it's worth knowing this difference in advance if high school is coming up soon.

Step-by-step summary

If your child misses a performance assessment: (1) notify the homeroom teacher immediately with the reason; (2) if it's illness, file an absence report with a doctor's note or confirming document within 5 days (2 days for a short illness absence, where accepted); (3) check the school's academic management policy for how that particular assessment's approved score is converted; and (4) follow up on the Academic Management Committee's review outcome and when it will be communicated. That said, the scope of approved reasons, document deadlines, and the exact conversion ratio for approved scores vary by provincial education office and by school policy -- this article covers only the common framework, so please confirm the exact deadlines and forms with your child's own school's academic management policy and homeroom teacher.