Grading Assignments and Assessments (Secondary Grading and Reporting)

Guidance on expectations and best practices related to the evaluation of individual assignments or assessments.

Students should experience frequent and ongoing assessment and feedback throughout each quarter.  Students should receive continual feedback on the quality of work as it relates to the course objectives.  Teachers are required to record a minimum of 9 grades over the course of each quarter.

Quizzes, tests, examinations, essays, homework, or papers are evaluated and/or graded, returned, and reviewed promptly with the student. Teachers are expected to grade each assignment and post grade to the electronic gradebook within seven school days after the due date with the understanding that major projects/papers may require additional time to ensure quality feedback.  If more time is required to provide feedback, teachers will notify students in advance of the project due date.

Grades recorded in the gradebook may be percentages, letters, or other symbols. Daily grades are a function of teacher evaluation and take into account the fact that numerical grades cannot be assigned to every piece of work. Teachers may employ letters, numbers, or other symbols for daily grades. However, the teacher will explain all symbols and weighting of class work in the required beginning of year communication.

For assignments or assessments where a student made a reasonable attempt to show evidence of their learning, the minimum score that a student can receive is a 50. For assignments or assessments that a student did not attempt, a student can receive a zero. Teachers should follow all related late work policies prior to assigning a zero.

All stakeholders should work together to provide tiered support for students who are not engaging in their learning.

For teachers using a quarterly gradebook, the final quarter average for students who are below a 50% must be converted to a 50% to reduce the disproportionality of a zero on a student’s final mark. This policy does not apply to the rolling gradebook as the rolling gradebook utilizes flexible reassessment or grade replacement policies to assess skills and course content across units and quarters.

Additional Opportunities to Demonstrate Proficiency

For major assessments, at least one new opportunity to demonstrate proficiency shall be provided to any student who scores below an 80 percent and completes corrective action determined by the collaborative team.  Teacher teams may extend the opportunity to all students in the class at their discretion.  Teacher teams will determine all guidelines for reassessment and communicate them through the course syllabus. This may take the form of a retake, completion of test corrections, revision of work, or other similar type opportunity.

If the opportunity to reassess is only available to students who score below an 80 percent, then the eligible student’s highest score up to 80 percent should be entered into the gradebook. If the opportunity is open to all students, then the student’s highest score should be entered into the gradebook.

Grade replacement policies that allow later assessments to replace the scores of earlier assessments may be used in lieu of reassessment as defined in this section.

Late Work

Late work will be accepted to document learning/mastery. Collaborative teams must set reasonable guidelines for accepting late work to encourage work completion by their students. If a student misses an assignment, a placeholder (such as M for missed, I for incomplete, etc.) should be entered into the gradebook.  

Teams are not required to apply a penalty when work is turned in after the due date. However, collaborative teams may choose to apply a penalty when work is turned in late. For major assignments and assessments, late work will be accepted with a maximum penalty of 10 percent if submitted within two weeks after the due date. Teams may also choose to accept assignments beyond the minimum two week window in accordance with the reasonable late work policy set by the school or team.  

If a student has been given multiple opportunities to complete work and has not done so, and parent contact has been made for major assessments, quizzes, or tests (tasks weighted more than 10%), a zero may be entered in the gradebook in accordance with the reasonable late work policy established by the school or teacher teams.