CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Chesterfield County School will not grade student work completed at home due to COVID-19 school closures, Chesterfield Public Schools superintendent Dr. Merv Daugherty announced Thursday in an email sent to parents.
Daugherty wrote that the decision aligned the the Virginia Department of Education's reccomendations regarding student grading.
“Whereas the VDOE recognizes that decisions on grades are a local decision, the VDOE does not recommend grading work completed during the closures since schools are closed," Daugherty said. "Our school division agrees, especially in light of an unplanned closure of schools that has altered the educational landscape and the normal supports available to a diverse community of learners. The value of school is not the grade; it is the education a student receives."
The school system will move to a trimester format for the 2019-20 school year – a first marking period, a second marking period, and a third marking period.
"April 24 is the new end date for the third marking period," Daugherty said. "We will not be grading any new work assigned after the March 12 closure of schools."
The following grading guidelines will apply to Chesterfield County Students:
Grading at the elementary school level
- Students may submit work assigned to them prior to the school closure (March 12) and due prior to the originally scheduled third marking period cutoff for grading (April 3). This work may be submitted and graded up until April 24. Students may work with their teacher to make up missing or unsatisfactory work that had been due during the third marking period prior to March 12.
- Grades will not be lowered if work is not submitted.
- New work assigned to students after April 14 will not be graded. However, K-12 students can submit work on new content for feedback from April 14-May 29.
- Determining final grades for the 2019-20 school year:
- The elementary school grading format does not include a cumulative formal final grade. Decisions regarding promotion, retention and future student planning for elementary schools take place at the end of each academic period based upon teacher evaluation of student performance indicators.
- For the third marking period, teachers will determine a grade (in grades 2-5) or rating (grades K-1) from the existing work or student performance prior to March 12.
- Teachers will have individual calls with parents during the timeframe of April 27-May 15. During that discussion, teachers will talk about the third marking period status by subject, review with parents the student’s grade, and next step plans. For students in grades 2-5, parents at that time may elect for the third marking period grade to be converted from a letter grade (A, B, C, D) to a “P” as a Pass Grade for their student for each subject area.
- Final report cards reflecting what is noted above will be printed approximately June 1 and mailed to homes shortly thereafter.
Grading at the middle and high school levels
- Students may submit work assigned to them prior to the school closure (March 12) and due prior to the originally scheduled third marking period cutoff for grading (April 3). This work may be submitted and graded up until April 24. Students may work with their teacher to make up missing or unsatisfactory work that had been due during the third marking period prior to March 12.
- Grades will not be lowered if work is not submitted.
- New work assigned to students after April 14 will not be graded.
- Final grades for courses in secondary schools: 70 percent for the first semester (or first two trimesters) and 30 percent for the third marking period (or third trimester).
- Moving forward: No grading will be done for new content that will be delivered starting April 14.
- Exceptions: Dual enrollment and CCPSOnline work will continue to be graded. Guidelines for dual enrollment work are managed by local community colleges. AP testing will still independently continue through the direction of the College Board.
- K-12 students can submit work on new content for feedback from April 14-May 29.
- Final grades will be posted for middle and high school student/parent review on ParentVue on May 15. If a student/parent wishes, they may request the final grade be converted from a letter grade (A, B, C, D) to a “P” for pass grade. A “P” grade will count for credit but not be a part of a student’s GPA calculation. The window for this decision is May 16-22.
- Final report cards reflecting what is noted above will be printed approximately June 1 and mailed to homes shortly thereafter.
- We will run final transcripts for the Class of 2020 in June.
- In September, we will offer one final week for parents/students to consider transitioning letter grades to a “pass” designation.
