IMPORTANT NOTE:  Because of the skill mastery based grading system, grades will start low because they are based on ongoing assessment.  Students typically have low scores with the first assessment (pretest) and improve with time.   Unlike typical grading systems in which a "B student" maintains a grade near a B the entire grading period, a "B student" in this program might start out with a 73 (D) average but improve each week until the grade at the end of the six-weeks would be a 90 (B.) 

THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT THE GRADE KEEPS IMPROVING FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIX-WEEKS UNTIL THE END.

 

Only current assessments (most recent two) will be used to calculate a score for each set of unit skills for each grading report, progress reports and grade cards. Each report should be considered a "snapshot" of what the student currently knows and used to identify areas that need work.  All the "snapshot" scores from all the skills assessed will be averaged and converted to a percentage equivalent for reporting on grade cards.   

 

Class activities, quizzes, and tests are all used to assess each student's level of mastery of each set of unit skills, but only the overall score for each unit will be reported.  For every activity, students receive feedback that informs them of the levels they have mastered and the levels that need work.

 

    Example  (typical grades after four weeks):

 

            Student's Scores (What I keep in my gradebook.)

                        Unit One -     65    75    80    85    90                        The red scores are from the pretest.

                        Unit Two -     70    75   85                                          The last two scores determine the current grade for the unit.

                        Unit Three -   75    80

 

            Student's Current Averages

                        Unit One -     88                                                         

                        Unit Two -     80

                        Unit Three -  78

 

            What you would see on parent portal:

                        

                       Unit One Pretest     Unit Two Pretest      Unit Three Pretest      Unit One       Unit Two      Unit Three                                                                           65*                            70*                                  75                           88                   80                   78

                                   

                *pretest score no longer counts towards grade average because it is no longer one of the last two scores

 

 

By comparing the pretest score to the current unit score, the student’s progress can be tracked.  In this example, the student started the grading period by scoring a 65 on unit one and has improved to an 88 average.  The student has made outstanding progress on unit one, but still needs to work more on unit three.

 

Notice also that EACH UNIT IS ASSESSED MULTIPLE TIMES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.  This allows students to keep working on skills they have not yet mastered so that the next time it is assessed they can improve their score.  The idea is to keep motivating students to learn.