Grading Committee Report and Recommendations
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Review Process
Educating the whole child for personalized success
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
From “Grading For Equity” by Joe Feldman
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
From “Grading For Equity” by Joe Feldman
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
WATERVILLE CSD GRADING FOR GROWTH
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
District-Wide Grading Practices by Area
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
A Profile of a Waterville graduate should be developed, aligned with the NYS Blue Ribbon Commission, to promote consistent learning standards and outcomes for all district students.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
Non-academic behaviors should be de-coupled from academic grades. Habits of Learning should be developed Pre-K-12 to promote and measure 21st century learning and power skills.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
The end of the 3rd marking period should replace the current practice of ending the final calculation of grades for seniors after the second marking period beginning with the 2024-25 school year.
Rationale: The final calculation of senior grades for honor recognitions should occur as late as possible in the school year to keep students engaged, and ensure student learning and effort continues as close to graduation as possible.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
The Jr/Sr High will continue to use Regents exams as the final. However, beginning with the 24-25 school year, final exams will be worth 10% of the final course grade. Midterm examinations will be added valued at 10% of the total final grade. Marking periods 1,2,3 & 4 will each be worth 20%.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
Rationale: Using the Regents as the final will continue to motivate students to take the exam seriously. Reducing the weighted value will benefit many students as it will have a lower impact on their final grade. It will also reduce stress for students. Adding midterms - a comprehensive exam - will serve as a key check point half way through the year to determine students’ progress to date on the course content. This will also help to identify areas which should be spiraled (reinforced) throughout the curriculum for the second semester.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
Courses in band, music and PE will be included in the GPA beginning with the 2024-25 school year.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Local Districts’ Practices
Districts included: NH, Utica, Sauquoit, Westmoreland, Holland Patent, Madison, Hamilton, Clinton, Canastota, Camden, Oriskany, Remsen, Little Falls, Rome
Include PE in GPA calculations: Yes: 6/14 (42%) No: 8/14 (58%)
Music: Yes: 14/14
Band: Yes: 14/14
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
Advanced Placement, dual-credit and honors courses should be weighted according to the following: adding 6 percentage points to the course grade GPA for AP credit, 4 percentage points to the course grade GPA for dual-credit courses and 2 percentage points to the course grade GPA for honors courses.
Rationale: Students should be incentivized to take our most rigorous courses. Currently, AP=5 pts and nothing for honors or dual credit courses.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
How Extra Points Are Awarded In Local Districts
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
Class rank should not be published or made part of a student’s official transcript beginning with the 2024-25 school year.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
Rationale: Is our purpose to select talent or develop talent?
Ranking motivates the top students even though it also serves as a point of stress. It fosters unhealthy competition, even dishonesty, instead of a collaborative environment. It also leads to students selecting courses to boost their GPA and ranking. For students who struggle, publicizing class rank only further disincentivizes them and even discourages them from trying. Additionally, class rank hurts the majority of students who apply to colleges.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Local Districts’ Practices
Districts included: NH, Utica, Sauquoit, Westmoreland, Holland Patent, Madison, Hamilton, Clinton, Canastota, Camden, Oriskany, Remsen, Little Falls, Rome
Class Rank
No - 6/14 (4 districts do a combination)
Yes - 8/14
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
The long-standing district practice of identifying the Top Ten students of the graduating class be eliminated beginning with the 2024-25 school year in favor of an honors benchmarking system, which recognizes all graduating seniors who achieve final GPAs in the following bands
90%+ - Honors,
94%+ - High Honors,
97%+ - Highest Honors
The weighted average will be used for all honors recognitions.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
Rationale: With declining enrollment and some classes with 40+ students, it no longer makes sense. By having benchmark targets, all students are motivated to achieve their personal best instead of being pitted against each other to vie for a certain ranking in the class.
Top 10 Data
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Local Districts’ Practices
Districts included: NH, Utica, Sauquoit, Westmoreland, Holland Patent, Madison, Hamilton, Clinton, Canastota, Camden, Oriskany, Remsen, Little Falls, Rome
Have a “top ten” = Yes: 6/14 No: 8/14
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Recommendation
The Valedictorian and Salutatorian recognitions should be eliminated in favor of the Highest Honors target of 97%.
Rationale: Those students achieving the “Highest Honors” designation would receive the accolades and honors formerly reserved for the Valedictorian/Salutatorian. The achievement of standards becomes the goal rather than competition among students. Under this scenario, the school is not arbitrarily indicating a finite number of Highest Honors scholars, but is setting various standards for students to achieve. The motivation and quality of the students will determine how many are honored in any given year.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Local Districts’ Practices
Districts included: NH, Utica, Sauquoit, Westmoreland, Holland Patent, Madison, Hamilton, Clinton, Canastota, Camden, Oriskany, Remsen, Little Falls, Rome
Have Valedictorian/Salutatorian: Yes= 12/14 No=2/14
4 out of the 12 districts announce the GPAs of Valedictorian/Salutatorian only.
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Educating the whole child for personalized success
Next Steps