Student/Parent Handbook - Ysleta Independent School District

GRADINGSee Policies and Regulations at EIA and EIB.GRADING GUIDELINESEach campus or instructional level has developed guidelines for teachers to follow in determining grades for students.These guidelines ensure that grading reflects a student’s relative mastery of an assignment and that a sufficient numberof grades are taken to support the grade average assigned. Grading guidelines for each grade level or course will becommunicated to students and their parents by the classroom teacher. A student who meets the criteria detailed in thegrading guidelines will be provided a reasonable opportunity to redo an assignment or retake a test for which the studentreceived a failing grade. See Reg. EIA-R for how the student’s mastery of concepts and achievement will becommunicated (i.e., letter grades, numerical averages, checklist of required skills, etc.).GRADING PERIODSGrading periods are 9 weeks long and begin and end as shown on the district Calendar. Teachers enter grades forassignments, homework, tests and exams into the Performance Recording System. These grades are weightedaccording to Grading Guidelines and averaged to reach a course or subject grade for the grading period. These gradeswill be entered into the student’s Academic Achievement Record (transcript). An End-of-Year Grade will be computed foreach subject by averaging all reporting period grades, and will be entered on the student Academic Achievement Record.REPORT CARDSReport cards are issued at the end of each Grading Period. For K-8, report cards will be sent home with students. For 7-12, report cards will be mailed to the student’s parent at the home address. The parent is required to sign and return thereport card to the school, except for the last grading period of the year.PROGRESS REPORTSProgress Reports are intended to inform parents of student progress. Progress Reports must be issued at any timewhen a student's progress indicates a significant decline and this Progress Report must be signed by the parent andreturned to school. A Progress Report for all students will be sent home at least every 3 weeks.PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCESAt least one parent-teacher conference per grading period will be scheduled on the campus calendar. In addition,conferences may be requested by a teacher or parent as needed.At the end of the mid-point of a grading period, a conference card must be sent home for any student whose gradeaverage in any subject or course is “borderline” or below 70 (grades 1 – 12), or below “S” (grade K), whose conductgrade is “N” or “U”, or when a student’s grade drops significantly. Conference cards must be signed by the student uponreceipt, delivered by the student to the parent/guardian for signature, and returned to the teacher sending the conferencecard. Normally, one school-week is given for the conference card to be returned.PASSING GRADEAttainment of the established achievement level of the assessment system in use (“E” or “S”), or a grade average of 70or higher is necessary for passing a course or subject area.END-OF-COURSE ASSESSMENTA student’s performance on an end-of-course (EOC) assessment instrument for an Algebra I, Algebra II, geometry,biology, chemistry, physics, English I, English II, English III, world geography, world history, and United Stateshistory course in which the student is enrolled is required to account for 15% of the student’s final grade for thecourse. See Policy EIA (LOCAL) for this grade calculation. (Pursuant to state regulations, YISD was allowed topostpone implementation of this requirement during the 2011-2012 school year and such postponement may or maynot be extended to the 2012-2013 school year.) For a student in the Special Education program, the student’s ARDcommittee shall determine how the score on an EOC assessment shall be used for final course grades.A student who is absent during the administration of an EOC assessment shall receive an “incomplete” grade in thecourse for which the assessment was missed. The student shall take the next available EOC assessment for the coursein order to receive a final course grade calculation.TWO SEMESTER COURSESFor a 2-semester course taken within the district within the same school year, the grades for the two semesters may becombined and averaged, and if the combined average is 70 or higher, the student will receive credit for both semesters.Otherwise a student will receive credit only for the semester in which the student earned a grade of 70 or higher. Seedistrict Regulations for more information.46