Grading Practices
North Providence School Department
New Parent Portal and
Electronic Gradebook
Report Card/Grading Committee
A committee was formed last school year to review sample standards
based report cards, sample grading policies/practices, as well as to
read and discuss grading practices research. The committee also
revised the report card comments.
The committee was comprised of teachers and administrators K-12.
In addition, Central Office administrators from several neighboring districts
met to discuss gradebook/report card setup in Skyward.
Prior grading practices in NPSD were left to the teacher’s discretion.
What is a Standards-Based Report Card?
A standards-based report card lists the most important skills
students should learn in each subject at each grade level.
NPSD’s new Standards-based report cards are completely aligned
with the Common Core State Standards in grades K-5.
NPSD’s previous report cards had the same skills for each grade
level with a rating scale of outstanding, satisfactory, needs
improvement, unsatisfactory.
Report Card Samples
Essential Components:
1. A description of what a student should know and be
able to do at a given grade level.
2. A curriculum framework/roadmap a teacher uses to
ensure that they teach to the standards.
3. Assessments that a teacher uses is to measure the
extent to which a student has met the standards.
4. A reporting tool which communicates accurately a
student’s progress towards meeting standards of their
given grade level throughout the school year.
Scoring Based on a 4 Point
Scale
Student scores will be based on a 4 point scale.
This represents categories as follows:
4- Exceeding the Standard
3- Meeting the Standard
2- Approaching the Standard
1- Not Meeting the Standard
Grading at the Secondary Level
Teachers may only chose from 4 categories to report
assignments and grades.
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Homework
Formative Assessment
Interim Assessment
Summative Assessment
Homework can count no more than 10% of the grade.
What is new this year….
All teachers MUST allow one reassessment of Summative Assessments
once the students have met the following criteria:
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The student must meet assignment due dates (unless excused
absence from school).
The student must make a concerted effort at reaching proficiency on
the first attempt.
The student must make corrections to the original assignment and any
other related work as assigned by the teacher that will support the
student to reach proficiency. This may include before and/or afterschool
sessions with the teacher to review content.
Students that meet the reassessment criteria may then be reassessed
within 2 weeks from the date the grade was posted in the electronic
gradebook.
The Reassessment is not a retake of the original
assignment/assessment. It will be a comparable
assessment/assignment to reassess the student’s understanding of the
standards. The electronic gradebook will reflect the new mark
(elementary score of 3 or secondary score of 70) if the student reaches
proficiency.
How do we create vision and
assess needs of our schools?
What do teachers need?
Standards based lesson planning
Utilize student data through
Skyward and Information Support
System
Develop grade level assessments
and rubrics
CARA cycle from Walkthrough
data
PD Committee
Comprehensive Assessment
System Project
NPSD’s professional
development goal this year is to
support the implementation of
standards based planning,
instruction, assessment, and
grading utilizing new
technology and resources.
New Resources:
RIDE’s Instructional Support
System
District provided Math and
Science materials
Interactive Projectors
Discovery Ed
EasyTech and Learning.com
Who’s involved:
District Walkthrough Team
Title 1 Coordinator
ELL Coordinator
Math/Induction Coach
Building Administrators
Central Office Administrators
Department Chairs
MS Team Leaders
NPSD Skyward trainers
Instructional Technology PD trainers
Professional Development to Date
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Skyward Teacher leader trainers have been holding PD
sessions around gradebook, grading, and report cards
Elementary administrators have been meeting with grade level
teams K-5 to discuss rubrics, scoring, and standards based
lessons and grading. These sessions are ongoing and a priority
to the district’s PD plan.
At Middle School level, Team Leaders will continue facilitating
grading and assessment discussions. Content level meetings
will begin afterschool, facilitated by MS Administrators.
At the High School, CPT and Department meetings are
focusing on common assessments and calibration of scoring
student work.