Garfield Re-2 Policies

IKA

Grading/Assessment Systems
 

The Board believes that students will respond more positively to the opportunity for success than to the threat of failure. The district seeks, therefore, in its instructional program to make achievement both recognizable and possible for students. It emphasizes achievement in its processes of evaluating student performance. 

 

State Assessment Aystem

 

State and federal law requires district students to take standardized assessments in the instructional areas of English language arts, math, and science. State law also requires students in elementary and middle school to take standardized assessments in the instructional area of social studies. Accordingly, the district will administer standardized assessments pursuant to these state and federal legal requirements.

 

State law also requires the district to adopt policies and/or procedures concerning the use of pencil and paper on the computerized portion of state assessments, parent requests to excuse their children from taking state assessments; and the district’s assessment calendar. This policy and its accompanying regulation represent the district’s processes to address these requirements.

 

1. Pencil and paper testing option

 

The district may determine that a specific classroom or school within the district will use pencil and paper to complete the computerized portions of a state assessment. Factors that will be considered in making this determination include:

 

• the technological capacity and resources of the particular school/classroom;
• students’ previous experience with computerized and written assessments;
• whether the instructional methodology of the particular school/classroom is consistent with the use of computerized assessments or written assessments and
• the logistics of administering the state assessment in different formats at a particular school or schools.

 

Prior to making this determination, the superintendent or designee must consult with the school principal(s) affected by this determination as well as

parents/guardians of students enrolled in the district. 

 

For students with disabilities, the use of pencil and paper instead of a computer to complete a state assessment will be determined by the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) team or Section 504 team in accordance with applicable law.

 

2. Parent/Guardian Request for Exemption

 

A parent/guardian who wishes to exempt their child from a particular state assessment or assessments must make this request in accordance with this policy’s accompanying regulation.

 

In accordance with state law, the district will not impose a negative consequence upon a student whose parent/guardian has requested an exemption from a state assessment or assessments.

 

This policy’s exemption process shall apply only to state assessments administered pursuant to C.R.S. 22-7-1006.3 and does not apply to district or classroom assessments.

 

3. Sharing of Student State Assessment Results with Parents/Guardians

 

The Colorado Department of Education is required to provide diagnostic academic growth information for each student enrolled in the district and for each public school in the district based on the state assessment results for the preceding school years. This information shall be included in each student’s individual student record. Appropriate school personnel, including those who work directly with the student, will have access to the student’s state assessment results and longitudinal academic growth information and must share and explain that information to the student’s parent/guardian.

 

 State law requires districts to include a student’s state assessment results in each student’s permanent academic record. C.R.S. 22-7-1006.3 (7)(d). State assessment results must also be included on each student’s final report card for the applicable school year if the district has sufficient time to process the results after they are released. Id. Districts must also describe each student’s “level of postsecondary and workforce readiness” on the student’s final high school transcript by “indicating the, but must not indicate each student’s level of performance on the state readiness assessments administered to the student pursuant to assessment or national assessment on the student’s transcript. C.R.S. 22-7-1006.3 in high school.” 22-7-1016 (2)(b)

 

District Assessment System

 

In addition to the state assessment system, the district has developed a comprehensive assessment system that:

 

• challenges students to think critically and apply what they have learned and gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge;

 

• includes “early warning” features that allow problems to be diagnosed promptly to let students, teachers, and parents/guardians know that extra effort is necessary;

 

• provides reliable and valid information on student and school performance to educators, parents/guardian,s and employers; and

 

• provides timely and useful data for instructional improvement and improved student learning, including feedback useful in determining whether the curriculum is aligned with the district’s academic standards.

 

In accordance with applicable law, the district’s assessment system will accommodate students with disabilities and English language learners.

 

The district’s assessment results, in combination with state assessment results, will be used as the measurement of student achievement. It is believed these results will provide reliable and valid information about student progress on the district’s academic standards.

 

Additional Assessment Information for Parents/Guardians

 

In accordance with state law and this policy’s accompanying regulation, the district will distribute an assessment calendar and related information to parents/guardians on an annual basis to inform them about the state and district assessments that the district plans to administer during the school year.

 

Classroom Assessment System

 

Classroom assessment practices will be aligned with the district’s academic standards and assessment program. Assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning process that should occur continuously in the classroom. The primary purpose of classroom assessment is to enable teachers to make instructional decisions for students on a continual basis.

 

Students are encouraged to engage in informal self-assessments as they study and attempt to solve problems, monitor their own progress, and improve their learning.

 

Grading System 

 

The administration and professional staff will devise a grading and/or assessment system for evaluating and recording student progress and to measure student performance in conjunction with the district’s academic standards. The records and reports of individual students will be kept in a form meaningful to parents/guardians as well as teachers. The grading/assessment system will be uniform district-wide at comparable grade levels. Peer grading of students' assignments and classroom assessments is permissible. The intent of this practice is to teach material again in a new context and to show students how to assist and respect fellow students.

 

The Board will approve the grading, reporting, and assessment systems as developed by the professional staff upon recommendation of the superintendent. 

 

The Board recognizes that classroom grading and/or assessment systems, however effective, are subjective in nature but urges all professional staff members to conduct student evaluations as objectively as possible. 

 

Adopted: September 22, 1998

Revised: June 26, 2001

Revised: August 28, 2007

Revised: August 26, 2014

Revised: April 14. 2015

Revised: February 9, 2016

Revised: September 14, 2020

 

LEGAL REFS. 20 U.S.C. 6311 (b)(2)(A) (Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to implement mathematics, reading or language arts, and science assessments)

20 U.S.C. 6312 (e)(1)(B)(i) (under ESSA, district must provide information to parents regarding child’s level of achievement and academic growth on state assessments)

20 U.S.C. 6312 (e)(2)(A) (under ESSA, district must provide information to a parent regarding district’s opt-out policy for state assessments, at parent’s request for such information)

 

C.R.S. 22-7-1006.3 (1) (state assessment implementation schedule)

C.R.S. 22-7-1006.3 (1)(d) (district must report to CDE the number of students who will take the state assessment in a pencil and paper format)

C.R.S. 22-7-1006.3 (7)(d) (state assessment results included on student report card if feasible)

C.R.S. 22-7-1006.3 (8)(a) (policy required to ensure explanation of student state assessment results)

C.R.S. 22-7-1013 (1) (district academic standards)

C.R.S. 22-7-1013 (6) (policy required regarding the use of pencil and paper on state assessments)

C.R.S. 22-7-1013 (7) (procedure required concerning distribution of assessment calendar to parents/guardians)

C.R.S. 22-7-1013 (8) (policy and procedure required to allow parents to excuse their children from participation in state assessments)

      C.R.S. 22-7-1016 (2)(b) (results of state “readiness assessments” and national assessments administered in high school must be included on high school student’s final transcript)

C.R.S. 22-11-101 et seq. (Education Accountability Act of 2009)

C.R.S. 22-11-203 (2)(a) (principal required to provide educators access to their students’ academic growth information “upon receipt” of that information)

C.R.S. 22-11-504 (3) (policy required to ensure explanation of student state assessment results and longitudinal growth information)

 

CROSS REFS. AEA, Standards Based Education 

AED*, Accreditation

IK, Academic Achievement 

JRA/JRC, Student Records/Release of Information on Student

 

Garfield School District No. Re-2, Rifle, Colorado