Assessment and Grading

The shift to home learning changes not only how students are taught, but also how learning is assessed. Given the variability in how home learning will play out in different households, it becomes difficult to assess growth relative to a comparable opportunity to learn.

For Phase 2, BSD is shifting its approach to conducting assessments of learning. The use of summative assessments (see Glossary) will be replaced by teacher monitoring of student progress towards our Trimester 3 standards-based learning targets by grade level.

BSD principals and teaching staff have developed processes for monitoring student progress during home learning, including various ways to review student work. Possibilities include through online learning logs, uploaded documentation of completed work, digital artifacts, etc. What is possible and what works may vary across different age ranges of students. The ability to produce such artifacts may also vary across households.

Given the unprecedented nature of this school closure and its impacts on teaching and learning, BSD is proposing (to our Board of Trustees) to denote *HL (for Home Learning) on district Trimester 3 report cards. The narrative component will be used to capture participation and engagement levels.

UPDATE On Tuesday, May 12, BSD presented its approach for grading during Learning at Home at BIS to our Board of Trustees. Details of this approach are available in the PDF document below. At the elementary level, teachers will provide narrative reports for Trimester 3 that describe each student's progress towards our Trimester 3 benchmarks during Spring 2020 Learning at Home. (May 13, 2020)

As we presumably begin the return to in-person, on-site learning in Summer and/or Fall 2020, a key district process will be assessing and evaluating student learning gaps which will inform our strategies to address and resolve those gaps.

Note: Assessment and grading practices are informed by CA State Department of Education guidelines. The state has cancelled all state-level summative assessments, including the CAASPP, for this academic year. Per the San Mateo County Office of Education, San Mateo County school districts are also cancelling summative assessments countywide.