• 2023-2024 GRADING POLICY

    Wakefield Middle School is committed to maintaining rigorous performance and achievement standards for all students and to providing a fair and consistent process for evaluating and reporting student progress that is understandable to students and their parents and relevant for instructional purposes.  Grades will reflect a student's mastery of the learning objectives defined for the class. 

     

    GENERAL GRADING POLICY:

    • Students are expected to complete and submit work on time.

    • Parents may actively monitor student performance by checking grades in Homebase/Powerschool.  Families without internet access may request grade reports from the school.

    • In addition to checking Powerschool, students will receive an interim progress report in each class at the midpoint of each quarter. 

    • Students can receive partial credit for late work completed correctly; however, students will earn a zero when they do not submit an assignment.

    • Student grades will not be negatively impacted by non‐academic or non‐curricular variables (such as no name on the paper, wrong size paper, parent signature, etc.), except when items are specifically addressed in a rubric for a formal paper or project. 

    • Cheating is a violation of the WCPSS Code of Student Conduct and will be addressed through the Wakefield Middle School discipline plan. Teachers may also assign an alternative assessment/activity.

    • Teachers will update grades in the PowerSchool System at least once per week. 

    • Grading Scale:

    A 90-100 

    B 80-89 

    C 70-79

    D 60-69

    F Below 60

    • Teachers will communicate their grade distribution calculations individually at the beginning of each semester. An example of the breakdown of scores is listed below in calculating a student’s grades.

      • Homework 10%

      • Classwork 25%

      • Quizzes 30%

      • Test/Major Projects 35%

    HOMEWORK:

    • Homework is a valuable task to be completed to practice, review, and re-engage in the content covered in class.  

    • Homework can be assigned in order for students to review the learning for the day or to prepare for the next day’s learning.  Students should complete homework assigned and expect to use the work in the following day’s class. 

    • Homework will account for no more than 10% of a student's grade.

    LATE-WORK (not due to absences)

    • Students and families are responsible for monitoring Powerschool, Google Classroom and teacher websites to stay apprised of missing assignments and work together to submit work in a timely manner.  

    • Students may submit late work (classwork, projects, and quizzes) up until the summative assessment for a unit of study.

      • Late work will be assessed a 10% penalty for each day late.  If turned in more than 4 days late, it will be assessed a 50% deduction.  

      • If the assignment is due less than 3 days before the summative assessment for a unit of study, students will be given the appropriate amount of time after the end of the unit to turn in the assignment, with the late penalty.

      • Late work will be graded based on accuracy in addition to the penalty for being late. All submitted late work will receive a minimum score of 50%.

     

    MAKE UP WORK (due to absences) 

    • Students who are absent on the day that the work is assigned will be given the equal number of days absent to complete the assignment upon return to school for full credit.  Special consideration will be given to students with longer absences due to extraordinary circumstances. 

    • Students who are present on the day the work is assigned but absent on the day it is due, must turn in the assignment on the day he or she returns to school. 

     

    GRADE-RECOVERY/INTERVENTION:

    • Students at risk of academic failure may access additional support and instruction during the Wolf Time.

    • Students scoring below a 70% on a test or major project will have the opportunity to complete a PLT selected grade-recovery activity, such as a re-test, test corrections, or an alternate assignment. The PLT determines the timeline for work completion. Students can earn a maximum score of 70% after completing the grade-recovery activity. 

    • Points deducted for late work cannot be recovered.

    • The teachers will meet with all students failing a course at the mid-term to establish a plan for grade recovery.  

    • The counselor, grade-level administrator and parents, in addition to the teachers, will meet with all students failing a class at the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters to develop an intervention plan/contract/monitoring system to promote future success.

    OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEMONSTRATED MASTERY

    Teachers can give students opportunities to enhance grades that are connected to learning outcomes and consistent within PLCs.  They will only be offered to students who have not demonstrated mastery of a standard.  No other forms of extra credit will be offered to students.