City Schools Want to Standardize Grading Systems
Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
By Julia Crouse, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.
May 15--CHAPEL HILL -- The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district plans to make sure an "A" is always an "A."
The creation of a consistent grading scheme for the three high schools is at the top of the Board of Education's list of priorities for the upcoming school year. That means, under a new policy, students' grades would be assessed using the same standards per grade and department, said Stephanie Knott, the district's assistant to the superintendent for community relations.
The Board of Education will discuss the grading practices as well as other district priorities at its meeting tonight at Chapel Hill Town Hall. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.
Creating consistent grading practices is the next logical step in the district's drive for professional learning communities within its high schools, officials said. So far, the district has encouraged teachers within departments to share best practices, learning plans, tests, etc. to ensure that students get the best quality instruction possible. Schools also have created standard tests to make sure students in different classes are learning the same curriculum.
Grading, Knott said, is the next step toward consistent instruction.
For example, under the policy, a 10th-grade student would get the same set of expectations for his English class as another student taught by a different teacher. Each high school would devise its own set of grading standards per department and grade.
Different departments, such as history and science, may have a different set of standards; there also could be differences among schools.
But students won't have that "gotcha" experience common to anyone who's been through high school, Knott said. That's when you get "C" on a Shakespeare paper while your friend in the class across the hall gets an "A" for the same type of assignment.
The new grading practices also should do away with punitive grading, such as students getting a zero for missing a due date, Knott said.
"What we do is look at students and focus on what they're learning," she said. "Is a zero a reflection of what they've learned?"
But she said the new policy was definitely not grade inflation or being too easy on lazy students. The new grading practices instead will more accurately reflect what a student has learned or not learned.
"We're still holding students according to higher standards than ever before," Knott said.
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Source: The Herald-Sun
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