May 11, 2020
Grading Guidance for grades 7-12
Dear Parents and Guardians:
I would like to provide additional guidance on the topic of grading for students in grades 7-12.
During the fourth marking period, our faculty will continue to assign and grade work. The fourth marking period will be assessed as “pass” (student earns an average of 65% or above) or “fail“ (student earns and averaged below 65%). Meanwhile, students may submit missing assignments from the third marking period with no penalty. The cumulative grade point average for students will be calculated based on the first, second, and third marking periods. This is an outstanding opportunity for students to positively impact their grade point average.
The current conditions prompt us as parents and educators to ask some provocative questions about the purpose of grading and its role in education. Grading is an educational practice that dates back centuries, and it has been utilized for a broad range of purposes. For our purposes today, that includes building evidence of student proficiency and readiness.
Even though it may be unfair or impossible to assign a valid numeric grade under the current circumstances, some evidence of student proficiency is essential for both students and teachers as they prepare for their next level of study. The lack of year end assessments such as Regents exams puts us as educators at a disadvantage when making these determinations. Our teachers analyze the results of those assessments in depth every year, both to determine students’ individual needs and to inform instructional decisions. Thus, our report cards have become even more important as this crisis has rendered them the only evidence of student achievement and proficiency.
The pass/fail system protects students' cumulative averages from being lowered as it will have no numeric impact on the average. With the suspension of Regents exams and state assessments, it is our goal to have students continue their learning and work toward the course objectives, as well as to create a data record that will be useful in planning future instruction.
So while we will lack a Regents score or other traditional indicator of most students' levels of readiness for the next course of study, it is our hope that the 4th quarter grade will provide at least some indicator of their achievement. At the same time, we are aware that students' levels of access to support is exerting a huge impact on their learning during this hiatus. For this reason, no student’s grade will be reported at a lower level than where it stood on Friday, March 13- our last day of seated instruction.
The current events have impacted our lives in unprecedented ways. In a very short window of time, most of our teachers have had to completely rethink curriculum, pacing, and the very nature of the work being assigned. At the same time, students were forced to adapt to a single learning style and format.
The takeaway message that I would like to leave is that regardless of grades, there are many essential activities in which students should engage to promote their academic growth and preparedness for the reopening of school. These include regular assignments on Google Classroom. All students should be participating in physical activity, and all students should be reading daily. By recommitting to this work, it is my belief that we can come back even stronger than before.
Should you have any questions or wish to discuss grading, please feel free to contact me by phone at 76503162 or via email at aslack@lcsdk12.org. Thank you and be well.