Grade Book Overview
Horizon Middle School Grade Book
We'd like to inform you of how grades will be assigned this year. We will be returning to an overall letter (A,B,C,D,F) grade each quarter. The determination of the grade will involve a combination of performance (60%) and practice (40%).
The performance portion of assessing your student’s progress this year is closely aligned to IB assessment practices. This method is grounded in current research and best practice on assessment in the field of education. According to current research, students achieve better success when they are given multiple opportunities to improve in identified skill areas without having scores averaged over time. Each class will utilize specific rubrics with descriptors that clearly indicate a particular level of achievement. These rubrics can be found on the school website in the IB menu.
These formative and summative (60%) “assessments” will be assigned a criteria score (grade), on a 0-8 scale. Each number (0-8) corresponds to a traditional (A,B,C,D,F) grade, both will be reported. An example of what you will see when checking grades in Infinite Campus will be 7-A, or 3-C. Student grades may continue to improve as students continue to demonstrate higher achievement in each particular skill. Instead of traditional averaging of scores, the students’ current level of achievement is reported.
In this system, students’ grades will reflect the level of achievement at the time of grade reporting rather than a numerical average since the beginning of the marking period. Motivation and ownership will increase as students establish individual goals for themselves for all skills and have opportunities to reach them. It is important that students demonstrate effort in working to continue to improve their performance by completing each and every assignment.
The practice portion (40%) of your child’s overall grade will be composed of things such as: homework, class participation, effort, and aspects of the Learner Profile. As you check grades through Infinite Campus in the Parent Portal, you will see these show up in a traditional, percentage type format. Please understand this portion of the overall grade will not evaluate skills, ability, or level of performance. There really is no reason that all students should not be very successful on this portion of their grade.
The conversion charts included with this letter show how performance criteria correlate to a letter grade. The performance (60%) portion will be combined with the practice (40%) portion in order to arrive at an overall end of quarter letter grade.
Once you see it in action, you will gain a better understanding of our grading system, which will support a letter grade format, while also accurately reflecting and reporting on students’ demonstrated performance. If you have any further questions feel free to call the school at 495-5210. We are very excited to implement these researched-based grading practices, as not only will they be beneficial to your student but instrumental to the learning process.
These formative and summative (60%) “assessments” will be assigned a criteria score (grade), on a 0-8 scale. Each number (0-8) corresponds to a traditional (A,B,C,D,F) grade, both will be reported. An example of what you will see when checking grades in Infinite Campus will be 7-A, or 3-C. Student grades may continue to improve as students continue to demonstrate higher achievement in each particular skill. Instead of traditional averaging of scores, the students’ current level of achievement is reported.
In this system, students’ grades will reflect the level of achievement at the time of grade reporting rather than a numerical average since the beginning of the marking period. Motivation and ownership will increase as students establish individual goals for themselves for all skills and have opportunities to reach them. It is important that students demonstrate effort in working to continue to improve their performance by completing each and every assignment.The practice portion (40%) of your child’s overall grade will be composed of things such as: homework, class participation, effort, and aspects of the Learner Profile. As you check grades through Infinite Campus in the Parent Portal, you will see these show up in a traditional, percentage type format. Please understand this portion of the overall grade will not evaluate skills, ability, or level of performance. There really is no reason that all students should not be very successful on this portion of their grade.
The conversion charts included with this letter show how performance criteria correlate to a letter grade. The performance (60%) portion will be combined with the practice (40%) portion in order to arrive at an overall end of quarter letter grade.
Once you see it in action, you will gain a better understanding of our grading system, which will support a letter grade format, while also accurately reflecting and reporting on students’ demonstrated performance. If you have any further questions feel free to call the school at 495-5210. We are very excited to implement these researched-based grading practices, as not only will they be beneficial to your student but instrumental to the learning process.
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