By Charlotte Matherly, contributor
Rockingham County Public Schools unveiled its plan for a new grading policy that prioritizes grade-level performance over student progress.
The proposal, which fleshes out the vague policy that’s currently on the books, is intended as a course correction from practices that some school leaders view as too personalized.
Sara Horst, the school board chair and a former teacher, said she’s watched as grades have shifted to reflect each student’s individual level and progress rather than grade-level expectations.
For “young children who are working really hard but are not where they need to be yet, a ‘C’ can be — or a ‘D’ can be — kind of defeating to them,” Horst said, “and yet giving them an ‘A’ sends the wrong message to parents if they’re not where they need to be.”
Officials said they’re looking to preserve individuality within the grading system where they can. After all, teachers and students are people, said Superintendent Larry Shifflett, not robots. Still, they’re also seeking to build more consistency across the school district.
“I really care about making sure our division is creating alignment … but I want to make sure that we’re preserving autonomy,” said board member Hilary Irons. “We are creating a sense of cohesion but not a sense of control.”
Shifflett warned that one can be a trade-off for the other.
“With that consistency, there is a little bit of loss of autonomy,” Shifflett said. “You just can’t do what you want, but I think there’s also a sense that no matter where you live in Rockingham County, your experience should be somewhat similar from school to school.”
The draft policy, which Shifflett presented to the school board on Monday, would keep the district’s 10-point grading system but establish a baseline weight system depending on grade level. Across the county, things like homework and quizzes would have less of an effect on a student’s final grade than larger tests, projects and essays, though practice and progress would count more for younger students than high-schoolers.
Teachers would be expected to assign between nine and 35 assignments per quarter, the policy says, and grades should reflect academic mastery and provide meaningful feedback while maintaining fairness and consistency across grade levels and schools.
The new policy also specifies the meaning behind letter grades. An “A” would mean a student is exceeding course expectations, with a “B” signifying that they’re simply meeting them. A grade of “C” or below would indicate that a student requires support or has “significant gaps.”
Late work would be accepted under this iteration, but penalties would be subject to teacher discretion, as would extra credit.
The review has been in the works since February, when Shifflett began soliciting input from principals, assistant principals and teacher representatives from every school in the county.
School board members are planning a deeper work session to finalize the policy this month and hope to approve a new grading policy in time for the next school year, alongside new guidelines on student use of technology in the classroom.
New technical center in the works
The school board voted to finalize plans for a new technical center after meeting with the county Board of Supervisors about the specifications last month.
The project is expected to go out for bid in August, which will be subject to school board approval. As of Monday, the plans were not posted publicly online.
Thanks for reading The Citizen, which won the Virginia Press Association’s 2022 News Sweepstakes award as the top online news site in Virginia. We’re independent. We’re local. We pay our contributors, and the money you give goes directly to the reporting. No overhead. No printing costs. Just facts, stories and context. We value your support.
