Grading

Last year, we moved to an 80/20 grading system. 80% of the grade is made up of Summative Assessments and 20% of the grade is made up of the Formative learning activities that prepare the students for the Summative Assessment. The theory behind this grading system is that kids learn over a period of time. At the end of that period of time, they should be able to demonstrate their learning and that is the grade that should matter most. Therefore, Formative work counts for only 20% of their grade as they learn and prepare to demonstrate their learning on the Summative Assessment. If we used a sports analogy, we would say that Formative work is practice and a Summative Assessment is game day.

Formative work would include homework, classwork and any other activities that would help prepare students for their Summative Assessment.

Summative Assessments could take the form of a test, a project or another performance event.  If the Summative Assessment is a test, the kids will know beforehand what is expected of them. In the case of a different performance event (project, writing, etc), the students will see the rubrics before the Summative Assessments so they know what is expected of them.

All kids can ask for a reassessment. If a student does not do very well on the Summative Assessment, they can reassess. In order to reassess, the student would have to follow the teacher's directions for relearning the material within two weeks of getting the Summative Assessment returned or they would lose that opportunity.

Grading this year may be a little different than what the kids are used to. We are making this change to more accurately reflect the students' learning.