Grading Information  

Grading Practices

Students are assessed on grade level standards being taught, which may include a combination of assessments, presentations, reports, classwork and/or homework. 

Accommodations:  An accommodation allows ANY student to access grade level standards and does NOT alter or lower the standard or expectation.  In addition, accommodations are not reflected in a student’s grade and can be offered to support ANY student.  

For example, an accommodation could be made to support a struggling student and does not need to be listed in any formal document.  However, students with an active 504 may have accommodations listed, whereas a student with an IEP should have accommodations listed.

When provided an accommodation, it should not be reflected in the student’s grade or noted on the report card.  Students would receive the grade they earned.

Modifications:  A modification alters or lowers the standard or expectation of a standard.  This would apply as follows:

Modifications Screencast 2025 

• Students who are an ELPAC Level 1 AND cannot access the grade level standards. 

• Students with a disability should have modifications listed on their IEP that directly relate to the student’s disability.

Modifications included in a student’s IEP are provided in the classroom on a daily basis for the duration of instruction in the subject (s)  specified.

If modifications are made to the curriculum, it is important that the student’s grade is reflected in their achievement based upon the modified curriculum.

Directions for Documenting Modifications:

1. Use the dropdown note: “Modifications do fundamentally alter or lower standards of course/test.”

2. If modifications apply to all academic subjects:

   • Be sure to notate all subjects (e.g., Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, etc.).

3. If modifications apply to only one subject:

   • Specify only the subject being modified (e.g., Language Arts or Mathematics).

4. Ensure your documentation is clear and aligns with the specific subjects being modified.

Examples of Comments:

1. For all academic subjects:
   “Modifications do fundamentally alter or lower standards of all academic subjects.”

2. For one subject (e.g., Mathematics):
   “Modifications do fundamentally alter or lower standards in the subject area of Mathematics.”

3. For multiple specific subjects (e.g., Language Arts and Science):

“Modifications do fundamentally alter or lower the standards in the subject areas of  Language Arts and Science.”

School districts cannot modify grades on the basis of the student’s special education status. To automatically give modified grades to all special education students would be discriminatory and potentially violate Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  For example, to state that a student cannot get a grade above a “C” because the student is in special education is a discriminatory practice.

Students who receive instruction from multiple teachers in a given content area will receive one grade based upon the grade level standards and whether or not the student received accommodations or modifications.

All information regarding Grading Practices are located on the CDE.

Grading Expectations 

To establish uniformity, the expectation in Greenfield is that: 

• The student grading/evaluation system shall help the guardian understand the student's areas of strength and those areas needing improvement.

• Teachers shall evaluate a student's work in relation to grade level academic standards  The student’s degree of achievement at grade level is reflected by the number/letter grade.

• Comments regarding student performance can be noted in the teacher comment section using the drop down options or adding remarks in elementary grades

• Homework may account for up to 10% of the grade and 5% of that may be from AR.  STAR should not be used for grading purposes.

• The teacher shall request a parent conference or send a written report (progress report) to the parent of each student whenever it becomes evident to the teacher that the student is in danger of receiving a deficient or failing grade/evaluation for the current grading period (Education Code Section 49067).  This shall be accomplished by a date which allows the student sufficient time, prior to the end of the grading period, to achieve a passing grade/evaluation.

• Attendance, effort, behavior, and work habits will not be incorporated into the academic grade, which is intended to be an indicator of a student’s mastery of academic content.

• Progress reports will be sent out to all students in accordance with the  report card timeline.

• TK-8 Online Report Cards- Parents will be provided with online access to grades through Aeries Parent Portal. All TK-8 teachers are required to use the Aeries online grading system. Aeries Gradebook should be updated at least every two weeks. However, updating your Gradebook at the end of each week is recommended.

• Dressing out for PE may account for up to 15% of the grade in middle school.

• Additional Elementary PE Grading support

• Standard Practice - Student earns a P for participating

• Medical Note: Student may earn a P if they are doing PE related tasks instead of physically participating.  They can also use X-not assessed at this time and note 'why' in teacher notes.

• Not Participating:  If student is not participating, teacher may use N and then address it below.  However, this should not be the first time parents are finding out their student is not participating.

• Teachers shall understand that due to error bands being reported, they should use the guide below.  It is important to remember that the "+/-" means that a student's performance could increase or decrease based upon the number of times a student takes the assessment.