Grading Policy

GRADING POLICY FOR CAREER AND TECHNICAL PROGRAMS

Three (3) factors contribute to the calculation of the student’s grade:

Employability Skills specify 10 work related behaviors on which a student is graded daily.    There should be a minimum of 5 Employability grades per quarter.

  1. Related Instruction refers to all work except tests on competencies and includes practices of competencies, theory, book work, quizzes, exercises, worksheets and special projects. A minimum of nine (9) related activities grades are required during each quarter.
  1. Competencies are the actual performance skill tasks the student must perform.  Each program has a procedure to rate each competency performance depending on the task.  The grade will be recorded as a percentage grade on the student grade sheet.  Competencies should be graded and tracked throughout the year.

Examinations shall be given each semester in all programs.  Teachers will grade accurately, objectively and in a timely manner and make students’ work available for review by students, parents and administrators.

GRADING SCALE

               90 -100 = A

               80 –  89 = B

               70 –  79 = C

               60 –  69 = D

               59 – & under = F

Policy Involving Use of Zeros:

Background:
Research and basic math shows that the use of a zero when grading on a 100 point scale significantly skews the student’s quarterly grade in a negative manner
This fact needs to be balanced against maintaining student accountability for work readiness behaviors, class participation, and completing assignments
Our goal and staff responsibility is to maximize student success
Grading: The only time a zero will be given is if a student has done absolutely no part of an assignment or class activity
Before giving the zero, alternative/preventative measures need to be taken:
Provide clear expectations and timelines in advance for all assignments/activities
Provide the students with reminders of due dates and expectations
Contact the parent if a student is unresponsive after at least two reminders
Final reminders need to be given two weeks before grades are to be submitted
Alternative to zero grading practices for late or incomplete work:
Provide partial credit for work submitted late or incomplete work

  • Establish a late work policy that is reviewed with parents and students at the beginning of the year which includes how grades will be affected by late work; this includes deducting points for late work based on how late the work is; if you don’t establish such a policy and review it with parents and students it is unfair to lower grades
  • Two weeks before grades are finalized teachers need to remind all students/parents of missing or incomplete assignments

Employability grades:

  • NHREC CTE grading policy includes Employability grades(Workplace readiness Skills) as at least 33% of the students overall grade
  • Current policy requires a minimum of 5 employability grades per quarter
  • If your established practice is to enter weekly or bi-weekly Employability grades into the gradebook, a student cannot be given a zero for that grade unless they have submitted no work and had no participation every day of that period
  • If a student fails to submit a required assignment or did not participate in an activity and the above conditions were met, the zero can be given for that event in proportion to the amount of time/assignments that activity has in relation to the period covered by that grade
  • Look at Employability grades from the point of view of the 21 Workplace Readiness Skills established by DOE and assign a zero to those skills affected, but not to all skills
  • If you record a daily grade for Employability, then a zero can be given for no participation because the zero is spread across 45 grades