Gooding Joint School District No. 231
INSTRUCTION 2620
Grading and Progress Reports
The Board believes that the cooperation of school and home is a vital ingredient in the growth and education of the student and recognizes the responsibility to keep parents informed of student welfare and progress in school.
The issuance of grades and progress reports on a regular basis serves as the basis for continuous evaluation of the student’s performance and determining changes that should be made to effect improvement. These reports shall be designed to provide information that will be helpful to the student, teacher, counselor, and parent.
The District’s mission, in partnership with the community, is to provide educational opportunities for students to develop their full potential as life-long learners and contributing citizens. The District believes that grades should be an accurate and fair representation of student performance. The purpose for computing, recording, and reporting grades is:
to provide feedback on the student’s masterly level of the curriculum standards;
to inform students, parents, and the community of the state of the educational experience provided by the district;
to reward student achievement;
to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction;
to meet the administrative needs of the district; and,
to assess additional performance standards, e.g., citizenship and work ethics.
Grades should not:
be punitive; or
be influenced by parents, administration, or other staff.
An academic grade shall be given and reported, which reflects only the level of performance achieved by the student on the District curriculum standards. Only student work which represents compliance with the curriculum standards set by the District will be included in the computation of the academic grade. Student work completed in addition to the curriculum requirements, often referred to as “extra credit,” may be reported in the compilation of an additional grade, but will not be used to compute the academic grade.
Additional grade(s) which are reported separately from the academic grade may be given, reflecting citizenship, effort, work habits, work ethic, attitude, and other behaviors as defined in the teachers’ grading policy and criteria.
Every teacher shall have a written policy clearly describing their grading criteria and grading procedures for the course or grade level. This policy is to be shared at the beginning of the school year with students, parents, and administrators. The teacher’s grading policy must be
compatible with District philosophy, administrative policy, and be aligned with curriculum standards. Each teacher shall maintain an accurate and current record of students and grades.
The appropriate assessment and reporting tools, e.g., report cards, are best determined by the staff and administration at each level: Pre-K, Primary, Intermediate, Middle School, and High School.
Grades will be given periodically as determined by the school calendar. Reports of deficiency shall be sent to students and parents at mid-term. A reasonable request for a progress report will be provided in a timely manner, not to exceed one week.
If letter grades are used as the reporting system, the letter grade will be recorded with its corresponding numeric value. Until such time as the recording of both the letter and numeric grades is made possible, pluses and minuses shall be added to the appropriate letter grades. The following scale for letter grades and pluses and minuses will be followed:
•
97-100
A+
•
93-96
A
•
90-92
A-
•
87-89
B+
•
83-86
B
•
80-82
B-
•
77-79
C+
•
73-76
C
•
70-72
C-
•
67-69
D+
•
63-66
D
•
60-62
D-
•
0-59
F
IEP Grading
Students on an IEP will receive grades according to criteria set forth in of Idaho Special Education Manual.
Grades cannot be modified on the basis of special education status alone.
Nondiscriminatory titles may be used for classes, report cards, and transcripts to designate adaptations in general education classes.
The student’s IEP should address grading modifications.
Collaborative grading between general education teachers and special education teachers is encouraged and considered appropriate. The grading procedure should be outlined in the IEP.
Elementary report cards may have asterisks or other identification stating the class was from special services (i.e. resource room, enrichment class, speech therapy, etc).
Policy History:
Adopted on: May 8, 2012 Revised on: