Disd Grading Policy
Disd Grading Policy
Disd Grading Policy
057905
Grading Policy and Grading regulations are developed to clarify and ensure adherence
Theory of Action to Board-approved grading policies [see EIA(LEGAL) and
EIA(LOCAL)] and to transmit the District’s theory of action about
teaching and learning into grading practices across all classrooms
and schools. Grading should be both formative and summative in
nature.
To ensure compliance with Board policy, these guidelines should
be reviewed in conjunction with Board policy EIA(LOCAL). These
guidelines are intended to clarify Board policies, not to duplicate all
policy requirements.
Grading Purposes Grades should reflect adherence to the purposes for grading out-
lined in policy EIA(LOCAL) including equity and access to rigorous
learning, communication, motivation, instructional decision making,
and documentation of learning.
Accountability for The accuracy, equity, and quality of grades as a measure of stu-
Accuracy, Equity, dent learning are directly dependent on the quality of instruction
and Quality of provided, the alignment of student learning tasks to the content
Grades and pacing of the District’s curriculum, and the quality and rigor of
the student work that is used to determine grades.
Students Enrolled in A student enrolled in extracurricular activities must meet the No
Extracurricular Pass/No Play requirements for eligibility to participate. A student
Activities must receive a grade of 70 or better in any course for eligibility
purposes.
According to 19 Administrative Code 74.30, students enrolled in
identified honors courses including Advanced Placement (AP), In-
ternational Baccalaureate (IB), and dual credit will be eligible for
exemption from the state's No Pass, No Play policy [see
FM(LEGAL)]. Additionally, local school districts are authorized to
identify and approve a listing of such honors courses and set the
exemption standard students must meet to retain UIL eligibility. A
student who earns a grade of 60 and above at the end of an evalu-
ation period in the courses listed and identified as honors may
maintain UIL eligibility. A student who earns a grade below 60 may
retain UIL eligibility only if he or she meets the following standards:
1. There are no disciplinary concerns.
2. The student does not have multiple zeroes in an advanced
course.
3. The student has made a “good faith” effort to earn a passing
grade in an honors course.
4. The student completes an eligibility waiver application and
receives approval from the compliance director.
Three-Week Progress reports are issued by the teacher every three weeks if a
Progress Reporting student’s performance in any subject or class is below 70 or whose
average is deemed borderline according to District guidelines and
will be recorded and communicated using District-approved report-
ing forms and/or software programs. Teachers will have the option,
and are encouraged, to issue progress reports to all students to
communicate standards mastery and to provide specific feedback
about effort exhibited by the student in his or her learning.
Determining Classwork should be rigorous and standards-based and should
Classwork Grades document cumulative mastery of content area concepts. Expecta-
tions for grading classwork should be clearly communicated to stu-
dents and posted in the classroom. Mastery criteria for projects or
other assignments that are used to evaluate multiple concepts
should be clearly communicated to students, using tools such as
rubrics or criteria charts.
Teachers may assign no less than one classwork grade per week
per subject or a minimum of six grades per subject per six weeks.
Projects may assess multiple learning standards and therefore,
more than one grade may be recorded for a project (based on the
scoring rubric).
Determining Homework can help families become more involved with the edu-
Homework Grades cational process, communicate high expectations for students, and
help students develop self-discipline and organizational skills.
Homework should be based only on content standards previously
taught and at a level of difficulty that can be completed inde-
pendently by students. In grades 2–5, grades from homework as-
signments will be counted only if they improve the student grade
average, but feedback should always be provided on homework.
Students may be assigned no more than one hour per night of
homework or no more than five hours per week for all grade-level
subjects/teachers combined. Departmentalized teachers should
collaborate to determine homework assignments that meet this ex-
pectation. Student/parent reading time is not included in the
homework time limit.
Test and / or Project Teachers should use a variety of assessment methods such as unit
Grades tests, project evaluation, six-week tests, and the like. There should
be no fewer than two and no more than four test/major project
grades per six weeks in each core subject area. Rubrics used for
grading projects will reflect mastery of identified content learning
standards.
Students must take the ACP if it is offered in the course. The ACP
is considered a part of the course. Only students with appropriate
documentations (such as ARD or 504 documentation) may be ex-
empted from the ACP. ACPs are given as is and may not be modi-
fied. In cases of testing irregularity, the school will work with Evalu-
ation and Assessment to determine appropriate grading for stu-
dents in grades 3–5.
Retesting To ensure that test grades reflect content mastery, a student will be
permitted to retake any major test that he or she has failed within
five school days of the date the failing grade was received or no
later than ten days of the date of the test. If the test is passed on
the second attempt, the failing grade will be removed from the
grade book, and the passing grade will be recorded, with the fol-
lowing exception. When student behavior or actions clearly
demonstrate that a major test was failed due to lack of effort or in-
appropriate behavior, a teacher, with the principal’s approval, may
assess a grade penalty. The grade penalty will be either the aver-
age of the two tests or a 70 (if either the average or the second at-
tempt is above 70). The grade given a student failing the test for
the second time will be the higher score earned on either test. The
retesting policy will not apply to ACPs.
Grade 3–5 students with an unexcused absence during ACP test-
ing must make up a missed ACP examination within the first ten
days during which the campuses are open following the end of the
original testing window. These tests will be offered at the campus.
Students who fail to make up the examination during this time will
receive an examination grade of zero.
Students with an excused absence during ACP testing must make
up a missed ACP examination within the first ten days during which
the campuses are open following the end of the original testing
window. These tests will be offered at the campus. If a student with
an excused absence is out for an extended time and has contacted
the school, the student may make up the examination by the end of
the grading period in which the student returns to school. For these
students, the school will arrange testing sessions through the Dis-
trict’s testing department. Students who fail to make up the exami-
nation within the allotted time frame will receive an examination
grade of zero.
Makeup Work and Students will be permitted to make up assignments and tests with-
Incomplete Grades out grade penalty after an absence. Giving zeros as a grade is not
Related to an a best practice, and, therefore, a zero can be recorded only after a
Absence parent call/notification has been made and the student has been
given two days for every day missed or two days after parent noti-
fication to complete the assignments or tests. An incomplete (I)
grade on the six-week report card will be recorded if the makeup
time has not elapsed prior to the end of the six-week period.
Art, music, and physical education teachers will assign grades for
the subjects they are assigned, and criteria for grading in these
subjects will be based primarily on classwork.
Semester Grades The three six-week grades will be averaged to determine the se-
mester grade for grade 2.
In grades 3–5, for courses in which an ACP is developed, the ACP
will account for five percent of the semester grade, and the three
six-week grades will be averaged to account for the remaining 95
percent of the semester grade. ACPs being administered for the
first year will not be included. For other grade 3–5 courses, the
three six-week grades will be averaged to determine the semester
grade.
High Class / Grade Teachers with a six-week and/or semester failure rate of greater
Level / School than ten percent in any subject area will be required to develop and
Failure Rates submit an intervention support plan for struggling students that will
be monitored by the principal or designee.
Schools with a six-week and/or semester failure rate of greater
than ten percent in any grade/subject will be required to develop
and submit an intervention support plan for struggling students that
will be monitored by the executive director of the learning commu-
nity.
Continued school failure rates resulting in greater than five percent
retention of students in any grade level may result in additional re-
quired interventions/supports/consequences.
Teachers should be prepared to provide an update to the campus
principal for students whose grade averages are on the pass/fail
borderline of 68–69, including strategies for academic supports for
the next six weeks.
Guidelines for Test genre practice for standardized state assessments may be a
Standardized Test- part of the preparation process for students but should not take the
Prep / Remediation place of rigorous instruction or more open-ended performance-
based assessments. Therefore, the following must be followed re-
garding the use of test-prep materials:
1. Test-prep formatted questions can be used as test format
models after more rigorous assessments, which should reflect
higher-level thinking.
2. Supplemental test-prep materials can be used but should be
limited to students who are in need of intervention in a par-
ticular subject area rather than as a general practice for all
students.
3. Students should be placed in tiered intervention programs
based upon their learning needs, which requires scheduling of
interventions during the school day.
4. Students should not be removed from any required core or
enrichment Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)-
based instruction for the purpose of test prepara-
tion/remediation. Short-term focused intervention tutorials
may be scheduled in the three weeks prior to the state-
mandated assessment but should not remove students from
other required instruction without the approval of the campus
principal.
5. Parents must be notified if students are removed from any
core or enrichment TEKS-based course or classroom for test
demonstrate that a major test was failed due to lack of effort or in-
appropriate behavior, a teacher, with the principal’s approval, may
assess a grade penalty. The grade penalty will be either the aver-
age of the two tests or a 70 (if either the average or the second at-
tempt is above 70). The grade given a student failing the test for
the second time will be the higher score earned on either test. The
retesting policy will not apply to ACPs.
Grade 6–8 students with an unexcused absence during ACP test-
ing must make up a missed ACP examination within the first ten
days during which the campuses are open following the end of the
original testing window. These tests will be offered at the campus.
Students who fail to make up the examination during this time will
receive an examination grade of zero.
Students with an excused absence during ACP testing must make
up a missed ACP examination within the first ten days during which
the campuses are open following the end of the original testing
window. These tests will be offered at the campus. If a student
with an excused absence is out for an extended time and has con-
tacted the school, the student may make up the examination by the
end of the grading period in which the student returns to school.
For these students, the school will arrange testing sessions
through the District’s testing department. Students who fail to
make up the examination within the allotted time frame will receive
an examination grade of zero.
Test and / or Project Teachers should use a variety of assessment methods such as unit
Grades tests, project evaluation, six-week tests, and the like. There should
be no fewer than two and no more than four test/major project
grades per six weeks in each subject area, including a required six-
week test and semester examination. Projects may assess multiple
learning standards and therefore, more than one grade may be
recorded for a project (based on the scoring rubric). Rubrics used
for grading projects will reflect mastery of identified content learn-
ing standards.
Students must take the ACP if it is offered in the course. The ACP
is considered a part of the course. Only students with appropriate
documentations (such as ARD or 504 documentation) may be ex-
empted from the ACP. ACPs are given as is and may not be modi-
fied. In cases of testing irregularity, the school will work with Evalu-
ation and Assessment to determine appropriate grading for the
student.
Number of Grades Teachers should record no fewer than two classwork/homework
grades per week per subject, with a minimum of 12 grades per
subject per grading period. Grades should be documented weekly.
Grade Weights for The following weights will be used to determine six-week report
Determining the card grades:
Six-Week Report-
Card Grade Classwork/Homework* 45 percent (no more than one-
fourth homework)
Tests 20 percent grade weight
Projects/Products 20 percent grade weight (example:
composition, research paper,
presentation, report)
Six-week test grade 15 percent grade weight
Semester and The semester examination/ACP will account for ten percent of the
Yearly Grades semester grade, and the three six-week grades will be averaged to
account for the remaining 90 percent of the semester grade. Se-
mester grades are averaged together to assign a yearly grade.
For courses that have a linked STAAR examination, a second se-
mester ACP will not be offered. For these classes, the second se-
mester grades will be calculated by average in the three six-week
grades, which account for 100 percent of the semester grade.
High Class / Grade- Teachers with a six-week and/or semester failure rate of greater
Level / School than 15 percent in any subject area will be required to develop and
Failure Rates submit an intervention support plan for struggling students that will
be monitored by the principal/designee.
Schools with a six-week and/or semester failure rate of greater
than 15 percent in any grade/subject will be required to develop
and submit an intervention support plan for struggling students that
will be monitored by the executive director of the learning commu-
nity.
Continued school failure rates resulting in greater than ten percent
retention of students in any grade level may result in additional re-
quired interventions/supports/consequences.
Teachers should be prepared to provide an update to the campus
principal for students whose grade averages are on the pass/fail
borderline of 68–69, including strategies for academic supports for
the next six weeks.
Guidelines for Test genre practice for standardized state assessments may be a
Standardized Test- part of the preparation process for students but should not take the
Prep / Remediation place of rigorous instruction or more open-ended performance-
based assessments. Therefore, the following must be adhered to
regarding the use of test-prep materials: