Colleagues,

For months, we’ve been sharing news with you about important committee work around fair and equitable grading at the secondary level and our need to have more consistent practices from school to school. At the request of the School Board, the group reviewed research and talked to experts in hopes of answering questions such as: How are we grading student work in our classrooms now? Is that the best way to assess students? What other ways of grading should we consider that would support student achievement and bring consistency to our schools and classrooms?

From their work, preliminary recommendations emerged centered on adjusting the secondary grading scale and reporting academic performance and student behaviors (participation, timeliness of work, etc.) separately. Many of you took the time to give feedback on those recommendations through an e-Town Hall, by attending community forums and by completing a survey sent specifically to secondary teachers. And you weren’t alone.  Our community was equally engaged, and that’s a good thing. Our work this year elevated the conversation on an important subject and allowed many voices to be heard.

As the committee reviewed the teacher survey data, forum comment cards and e-Town Hall responses the following became clear:

Parents, students and teachers are extremely invested in our schools, our instructional practices and the way we measure student achievement.

Our community does not support a division-wide change to our current grading scale. The reasons for this vary from competitiveness for college applications to the belief that changes may somehow diminish expectations for students.

About half of our secondary teachers, and about as many parents and community members, think that reporting behaviors separately from academic grades is a good idea. The other half either does not support the idea or indicated they would like more information about this at the secondary level.

So, what’s next?

It’s clear there is not consensus on division-wide changes to grading practices at this time.  Therefore, the committee and I agree that there should be no wholesale changes made to grading practices at the secondary level, and the committee will not recommend moving forward with bringing the School Board the original recommendations on which it sought feedback.

But this doesn’t mean the work is finished.  Our school division still needs to find a way to address the concerns about consistency that initially prompted the discussion. So, how will we do this?  First, we are going to convene a small group of administrators and teachers from the committee to update our current secondary school grading guidelines. Again, these will not be major overhauls, but this group will instead look for areas where we can be clearer about practices and expectations. To do so, they will specifically look to the feedback received during this process to see where the guidelines might be strengthened.  For example, the guidelines currently encourage teachers to use zeros only when necessary—and some commenters suggested we might delineate clear steps that should be taken before a zero is assigned for a grade.  Other recommendations, for example, included capping how much homework should be worth when calculating a grade (10%, 20%, etc.).

Second, we have to consider how these updated guidelines are used.  In a workshop in May, the Board will review the updated guidelines and be asked to consider—through adjustments to policy or regulation—whether or not each middle and high school staff should come to a common agreement about how to use these guidelines.

Asking our board to consider capturing this in policy is a first step towards ensuring consistency within our middle and high schools across departments and grade levels. Doing so would also create another opportunity for you to engage in thoughtful conversations about these issues at your school.  Look for an update after the Board meets in May to discuss next steps.

In closing, I want to thank you and our community again for participating in this process. Your voice was heard, and your engagement has proven that no matter how polarizing a topic may be, we can have respectful dialogue which leads to thoughtful action. These are the kinds of conversations we need to have as we work together to become the premier school division in this country.

Sincerely,

 

Aaron Spence

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