The school board issued a memo to all schools today to begin calculating grades for the 1st nine weeks using the new grading formula passed in Wednesday night’s meeting.
You’ll recall, the school board changed the grading system formula for 6th through 12th grade, so tests will now make up 60 percent of a grade and in-class quizzes and assignments make up 40 percent. The formula was 90 percent-10 percent.
Some students will see their grades improve, others will see a decrease. The school system has decided they will give the higher grade to the students when calculating for the first nine weeks, which ends next week. Parents and students should be able to log on to their Parent Portal on Monday, October 15th to review the finalized grades.
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It was also decided that teachers will not be required to retest students who fail tests or quizzes. Those retests are now optional.
The plan has been submitted to the State Department of Education.
Dozens of teachers filled Wednesday’s board meeting with most wearing red to show their support and solidarity.
One by one, teachers took to the podium to address their issues with the Pupil Progression Plan that was implemented this year.
Many of them are saying the plan was implemented prematurely.
“We learned about it at our back-to-school meetings in August, so that does feel sprung on you because there is only a day in between our before-school PD and the first day of school. So, everything I learn at my back-to-school PD, I have one day to digest it and implement it before school starts, so that does feel last-minute to teachers,” said LPSS teacher Julia Reed.
Others say they are happy the board has heard their concerns but don’t necessarily agree with all changes made Wednesday night.
“At its base, what we are concerned about and what always been concerned about is that the teachers’ professionalism is respected, that they are trained to do this job, they have the required skills, and they are rated satisfactory by the administrators in this district. And so if that’s the case, then their judgment should be respected, and that includes the grading process, ” said LPSS teacher Johnathan Cole.
Superintendent Dr. Don Aguillard says the most recent changes will be the last for this year’s plan.
“I think the next step is to send it to Baton Rouge for approval and then reconvene the Pupil Progression Plan that we will be working on for next year’s document,” said Aguillard.
