Grading Practices Update

What follows is a summary of the information synthesized from principal feedback at the April joint meeting with middle and high school principals. As a reminder,earlier in this school year principals chose three topics to discuss; retest practices, missed and late work, and grading of homework. Below are the suggested guidelines you should work to adhere to when revisiting your grading practices to stay in accordance with policy 5520. The spirit of the suggestions is grounded in the belief that we as educators adhere to the philosophy of mastery learning. When modifying your grading practices please keep in mind the purpose statement noted in policy 5520: The purpose of a grading system is to appropriately and consistently measure and communicate an individual student’s level of mastery of defined learning objectives. When making adjustments to your practices you should always point back to the question, “Does this practice honor the purpose statement noted in policy 5520?” This is the test of whether or not your practices will withstand an appeal.

You are encouraged to make your practices uniform across school but without question, within a PLT/department.

Retest Practice:

  • Any student wishing to take a retest should be afforded the opportunity.
  • Before the student is given the opportunity to retesthe/she must:
  • Complete the original task or assessment
  • Complete required assignments
  • Complete the reteaching/relearning activities
  • The retest must be completed within an established window of time (determined by school).
  • The retest grade cannot be altered to reflect a grade lower than what the student earns.
  • The teacher should use the grade (original or retest) that best reflects the student’s level of mastery of the defined learning objectives.

Grading of Homework:

  • Homework for practice (formative) should not be a part of a student’s academic grade (e.g. a students are taught a concept, asked to practice it that night for homework, teacher reviews that practice in class the next day to determine if the students understand the concept).
  • Homework evaluated for learning (summative) may be included as part of the academic grade (e.g. a teacher has taught all literary concepts necessary for a student to produce a well-written paper. That paper may be worked on in class but may need to be continued at home as part of the student’s homework. This is an acceptable graded homework assignment).
  • Policy 5510 sets guidelines for the amount of minutes a student should spend on homework each night. School staff should discuss where they stand on adherence to these guidelines and if out of compliance, revisit the school’s practice.

Missing and Late Work:

  • Missing work is defined by work that is not turned in due to an absence.
  • Policy 6000 outlines procedures schools should follow when a child misses school.
  • If a child skips school, the school should establish consequences for his/her actions that are not tied to the academic grade.
  • Late work is defined as work that is not turned in on time not as a result of an absence.
  • Consequences for not turning work in on time should be attributed to the behavior and not the academic grade (e.g. If a student does not turn in the work on time but wants to do so, he/she must attend lunch detention, or something similar to this, where the work is completed; thus consequences for being late but opportunity to complete the work).
  • School staff should set an agreed upon window of time that late work will be accepted.