Grading Policy

Vista del Lago High School

School-wide Assessment and Grading Policy

Rationale

Vista del Lago teachers and administrators are committed to providing our students with an educational program based on assessment practices that are rooted in educational research and support student achievement. To support these efforts and establish a system where formative assessment informs and drives instruction, and summative assessment is a true and accurate measure of a student’s academic achievement, we have made a commitment to improve assessment and grading practices in every content area and in every classroom.

Through honest, professional dialogue and team collaboration, our staff has developed an informed and forward thinking philosophy as well as a campus wide assessment policy that provides our students with frequent formative assessments for learning as well as summative assessments of learning for grade reporting purposes. The primary objectives in revising our grading practices are to insure the following:

• Grades in every course and content area are an accurate measure of academic achievement.
• Equitable and consistent assessment measures support mastery of content.
• Students have a clear picture of, and are actively involved in their progress toward college and career readiness.

Guiding Principles

• The purpose of grading is to communicate the level of mastery of course content standards and clearly articulated learning targets. 
• Common assessments and rubrics should be collaboratively designed and utilized so that performance levels and grades are fair and consistent in synonymous courses.
• Behavior, participation and effort will be reported in a student’s citizenship grade and should not be part of the academic grade unless it is required for accurate measure of content mastery.
• Well-planned instruction provides students with a clear understanding of teacher expectations through learning targets, rubrics, assessment criteria and when appropriate, student samples.
• Effective instruction includes frequent formative assessments with clear and understandable teacher feedback with opportunities to relearn and redo.
• Assessment of knowledge and skills should include multiple measures and a variety of evidence to accurately determine a student’s proficiency level.