Painesville City Local Schools
Philosophy and Practices for Grading and Reporting
Using grades as a means of reporting achievement has always been a fundamental component of education. Report cards--the primary communication tool between home and school--have remained essentially unchanged since the days of the one-room schoolhouse. The hand-written report card has been replaced with a computer-generated report, but the information provided still tends to be very much the same.
As critical of a component as grades have been to the operation of schools, there has historically been a great deal of inconsistency and disagreement around exactly what a given grade represents and how it is determined. Further, it has been not at all uncommon in education for there to be great variability from teacher to teacher in terms of what criteria factor into a grade and how it is calculated, even among teachers who teach the same grade level and subject matter.
For the sake of clarity, our definition of a grade is:
a generic symbol used to represent a student’s level of performance on key concepts directly connected to the Ohio’s Learning Standards. A grade reflects a student's performance across all final measures of student learning.
The purpose of grading and reporting grades in Painesville City Local Schools is:
to communicate to all stakeholders (students, families, and educators) the student’s level of understanding and performance relative to course or grade level expectations.
In order to provide the most accurate and meaningful information to families, teachers, and students, Painesville City Local School District has taken steps to create a common understanding around what grades mean and how they are determined. This document provides practical guidelines for assigning grades, as well as the fundamental beliefs which underscore each of these guidelines yet remains a work in progress. As we continue to learn more and as all stakeholders in the process of educating our children continue to work together, we will incorporate any changes that are necessary to better meet our stated purpose of grading and reporting.
GRADING GUIDELINES
Guideline #1 |
Reports of student progress are based on a collection of evidence that demonstrate student understanding based on the Ohio’s Learning Standards. |
Guideline #2 |
Grades are primarily determined by summative assessments/tasks. |
Guideline #3 |
To ensure that a grade truly reflects mastery of Ohio’s Learning Standards, flexible deadlines and/or reassessment are necessary. It is still the student’s responsibility to complete all assigned tasks to the best of his or her ability in a timely manner. |
Guideline #4 |
Behaviors/conduct are not factored in the determination of a student’s course grade. |
Guideline #1: Reports of student progress are based on a collection of evidence that demonstrate student understanding based on the Ohio’s Learning Standards.
Standards-Based Reporting
Academic Performance Key |
||
4 |
EXCEEDING |
Student consistently exceeds and applies skills and concepts beyond grade level expectations. |
3 |
MEETING |
Student consistently meets expectations of level skills and concepts. |
2 |
APPROACHING |
Student skills are approaching grade level expectations. |
1 |
STRUGGLING |
Student is struggling to meet grade level expectations. |
0 |
WORKING BELOW |
Student is working significantly below grade level. |
Blank |
The standard was not addressed this term. While some learning standards will be addressed throughout the entire year, others will be phased in as the school year progresses. |
*NO EVIDENCE indicates that accurate assessment of student performance was unable to be observed or collected due excessive absences or failure to complete assignments
Letter Grades
Letter Grade Definitions |
|
A |
Student consistently meets or exceeds all course expectations. |
B |
Student consistently meets the majority of the course expectations. |
C |
Student is meeting some of the course expectations. |
D |
Student consistently struggles to meet any of the course expectations. |
F |
Student is working significantly below course expectations. |
Guideline #2: Grades are primarily determined by summative assessments/tasks.
The purpose of a grade is to communicate the student’s level of MEETING the standard, not when he or she MEETS it. This means that it should be common practice for students to be given multiple opportunities to demonstrate MEETING the learning standard.
Guideline #4: Behaviors/conduct are not factored in the determination of a student’s course grade.