Grading Policy

CT Math Department Grading

To provide an equitable education for all students, we have gone to a grading policy to reflect modern, research based, practices. These practices include assigning homework as an optional support for students, but homework is considered part of the learning process and therefore will not be factored into student’s academic grade.

We “can't deduct points for incorrect answers on homework - which penalizes students for mistakes - and at the same time tell students that homework is just practice and that mistakes are a necessary part of learning” (Feldman, 2019). However, to better support students throughout the learning process, our Computech Math Department website (CTMath.org) has our weekly agendas posted by teacher. These agendas show the topics of our lessons as well as contain links to interactive lessons that correspond to the lessons in class. The expectation is that students complete these assignments on a nightly basis, especially if students are confused during the instruction week, want to study for a test, or would like to review materials before retaking a test.
Teachers will provide feedback on classwork, formative assessments, and homework to help students along their learning path to proficiency, but we believe academic grades should reflect the level of understanding and proficiency a student has based on the Common Core State Standards. As Feldman (2019) explains, “Grades should be based on valid evidence of a student's content knowledge, and not based on […] a student's environment.”
- - Formative assessments may be entered into ATLAS as an excluded grade and are meant as progress monitoring towards proficiency, but will not be factored into the final academic grade.
  - Compliance and "soft skills" will be taught as a part of helping develop the "whole child," but students will not receive an academic grade for such things as note taking, completion of homework, behavior, or other compliance/participation based behavior (see board policy below). The proficiency of these behaviors will be reflected in the student's citizenship grade on ATLAS.
  - FUSD Board policy states "A teacher shall base a student's grades solely on the quality of the student's academic work and mastery of course content based on district standards. Students shall have the opportunity to demonstrate this mastery through a variety of methods, including, but not limited to, tests, projects, portfolios, and/or class discussion as appropriate. Other elements that are not a direct measure of knowledge and understanding of course content, such as attendance, effort, student conduct, and work habits, shall not be factored into the academic grade but may be reported separately."
Academic grades will reflect student proficiency and not student compliance. Therefore, summative assessments that measure the proficiency of the state standards will be the only factor in student’s academic grades.

Thank you to all the family and community members that discussed their concerns with our staff; if you are interested in discussing these policies further, please contact the Mathematics Department Chair by sending an email to Jonathan.Muster@fresnounified.org.

Check your Student's Work

If you would like to monitor your student's progress on the practice and homework, please have your student log in to KhanAcademy.org and show you the work they have been doing (all homework and practice is given through KhanAcademy.org).

Citations:

Feldman, J. (2019). Grading for equity: What it is, why it matters, and how it can transform schools and classrooms. Corwin.

**The above policy may be updated and revised as needed by the Computech Math Department**

What is the purpose of grades in school?

A short reflection by Mr. Muster

The answer to this question is what has led to the grading policies we have in our department. Many people have never contemplated this idea, but agree to whatever system to which they were privy as a student. However, the purpose of grading is what allows us to reflect on how we grade.

A more traditional approach to grading is to measure the amount of work a student has done. This idea allows for grade books to be a collection of classwork, homework, projects, tests, quizzes, etc. Everything is factored into the gradebook and at the end of the grading period the grade reflects the degree to which a student has completed their work mixed with the correctness of their tests.

Students with busy or chaotic home lives (factors outside their control) have their grade suffer as a result of not being able to complete work outside of school.
Students who understand the content do not have their level of understanding reflected in their grade unless they complete all required practice assigned by the teacher.
Grades are then a compilation of compliance to complete required activities along with proficiency on exams. This system allows for non-academic factors to be factored into an academy grade.

A modern approach sees the purpose of grading is to measure the level of understanding of students, and have that as the sole factor of student's academic grades. This idea focuses on the degree to which students demonstrate understanding of content standards through assessments (projects, quizzes, and/or tests). A student’s grades do not measure compliance with teachers, but rather by a student’s individual level of understanding.

Student’s home lives have no bearing on their academic grade, but rather their level of comprehension is how their grade is determined.
Feedback is provided on assignments, but students are not grading during the learning process, but rather at the end of the learning progress they are asked to demonstrate their level of understanding through an assessment (projects, quizzes, and/or tests).
Students who struggle to work through content outside of class are not punished because of outside influences.
The idea behind this style of grading is for academic grades to be solely based on academic understanding of content standards.
This style of grading acknowledges that social-emotional learning as well as “soft skills” are important parts of education, but should not be factored into a student’s academic grade.

The views expressed above are that of Mr. Muster, so please feel free to email any questions or concerns to jonathan.muster@fresnounified.org

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