Grading Handbook
Philosophy
Grades and the grading process will support student learning, accurately measure student achievement, and give meaningful, specific feedback. Our approach to grades and the grading process will create safe classroom communities, engage all learners, provide balanced assessments, offer meaningful feedback, and nurture student agency.
Commitments
- Teachers/staff will provide students opportunities to retake an assessment to demonstrate mastery
- Teachers/staff will encourage students to complete and turn in missing work without penalty (no zeros)
- Teachers/staff will assign ungraded homework that includes meaningful practice of desired skills
- Teachers/staff will clearly define a team criterion for success at each level and provide students and families rubrics for assignments/assessments.
- Teachers/staff will separate the reporting of academic and social-emotional learning.
Report Cards
Report cards are issued three times a year after each trimester. Families may access the reports by logging into their Infinite Campus Parent Portal account. Technical assistance and a request for a paper copy should be directed to the main office at 708-798-3424.
Dates for 24-25
Friday, November 15th
Friday, March 3rd
Friday, June 4th
*Other student progress reports from EL, SPED, Band/Orchestra/Choir may be sent home with students or emailed to families in line with the above dates.
Grading Scale
All assignments are graded on a 4-point scale and reflect the assessment of essential competencies and skills:
| Gradebook/Report Card | Meaning |
| 4 | Met Expectations |
| 3 | Approached Expectations |
| 2 | Partially Met Expectations |
| 1 | Does Not Yet Meet |
Social Emotional Learning
Students will be scored in the four areas: Skills for Learning, Empathy, Emotion Management, and Problem Solving. The student scores will be based on the Churchill SE Scoring Rubric.
- Skills for Learning: Students gain skills to help themselves learn, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, and be assertive when asking for help with schoolwork.
- Empathy: Students learn to identify and understand their own and others’ feelings. Students also learn to take another’s perspective and show compassion.
- Emotion Management: Students learn specific skills for calming down when experiencing strong feelings, such as anxiety or anger.
- Problem Solving: Students learn a process for solving problems with others in a positive way.
*Teachers will use a pre- and post-screener as well as informal assessment data from socialemotional learning lessons and general observations to determine grades on the report cards. The report card will indicate a student’s overall demonstrated level of social-emotional skills, while the grade book will show performance in each of the above strands.
Posting of Grades
Teachers will update grades weekly with at least 1-2 grades in each subject. Families are expected to regularly log in and check their child’s progress and communicate any questions or requests about grades with their child’s teacher as needed.
Homework
The purpose of homework assignments is to reinforce or enrich topics presented in class and should satisfy at least one of the following goals:
- To practice basic concepts and skills.
- To explore and develop effective study methods.
- To extend their learning through real-world application.
- To make up work not completed during class or due to an absence.
All homework assigned will be ungraded, but incomplete classwork as a homework assignment will be assigned a grade.
Late Work and Make-Up Work
Late work will be accepted without penalty. According to teacher parameters, students may make up and/or redo assignments and assessments within 3 weeks of their initial due date. The last day of each trimester will be the final deadline for any work assigned in that trimester.
If a student is late turning in an assignment, it will be marked missing in the grade book, and families will receive a notification by email from the grade book portal (please check spam). If there is consistent behavior, teachers will communicate with the family by phone and put other interventions in place. This may include tutoring assignments/work completion before or after school or removing extracurriculars.
Reteaching and Reassessment
Our goal is for every student to reach high levels of learning. All students will be provided with instruction allowing practice and application of essential concepts and skills. Following a summative assessment, if a student does not receive a desired level of demonstrated learning, an opportunity will be provided for the student to be reassessed within 2-4 weeks and not outside the trimester window it was originally assessed. The student must request reassessment and engage in additional reteaching opportunities during which the instructional strategies differ from the original instruction, and an alternate but comparable assessment may be assigned.