CCSD tweaks grading policy; revisions allow for retaking of tests

The Clark County School District announced Thursday night that it’s making adjustments to its controversial grading policy.

Changes will take effect for the upcoming school year, which starts Aug. 7.

The updates are a result of feedback that educators provided during roundtable meetings, Superintendent Jesus Jara said in a news release.

“I appreciate the constructive dialogue with our teachers, and we will continue working together to ensure the grading system sets high standards and is equitable while equipping our teachers with a system that reflects their input,” he said.

One change: The grading scale at middle and high schools will no longer apply for assignments and instead, only for grades each quarter.

The revision also will clarify how late or missing work is scored at all grade levels. Schools will be required to set deadlines — at least five school days — for missing work.

“This adjustment provides students with opportunities to continue to demonstrate improvement in their achievement,” the district said.

School Board trustees made the grading policy change in 2021. The regulation was designed to create a “consistent and uniform grading system,” the district said Thursday.

The purpose is to ensure that students’ grades “accurately reflect their knowledge and skills by minimizing the impact of non-academic factors,” the district said.

Students are allowed to retake tests and revise assignments. Schools also can’t incorporate behavioral factors — like classroom participation and attendance — into academic grades.

And the policy change revised the grading scale. For first through 12th grades, that includes a “minimum F,” with 50 percent as the lowest score.

Opponents have argued that the policy lowers standards for students and that there’s too much weight on “summative assessments” like tests, leading some students to not bother turning in day-to-day assignments.

Reactions to the change

Modifications to the grading guidelines are “nothing more than cosmetic” and do not meaningfully change the policy, said Brenda Pearson, director of strategic initiatives for the Clark County Education Association.

“It is an attempt to save a failed policy that has restricted our teachers from giving accurate feedback to students and harmed our students by giving grades that do not reflect their academic ability,” she wrote in a Friday statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The teachers union believes the modified policy will “continue to disguise the lack of academic progress made by CCSD students,” Pearson wrote.

Rebecca Garcia, an administrator for the “CCSD Parents” Facebook group, said Friday that educators seem to like the fact that some changes are happening, but others are frustrated that the announcement was made right before a new school year begins.

And, she said, “I think the overall challenge with the grading policy has always been how it’s been rolled out and how it’s been implemented.”

There’s a lack of consistency, as well as a lack of understanding about the policy’s purpose and how it’s supposed to affect children, Garcia said.

Part of the purpose is to allow students to continue to grow, she said, “but I don’t think that’s what is being communicated to students.”

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.