Grade Reporting Implications Moving from 6 Week to 9 Week Grading Periods

Current RCPS Practice Report cards are printed and distributed to parents six times per year--each six weeks. Exception: Kindergarten report cards are issued each nine weeks. Middle and High School report cards are generated by PowerSchool and printed by each school’s office staff. Elementary report cards are –filled in by each teacher either using paper version OR –filled in on Excel and printed by each teacher New for : Middle and high school teachers use the PowerSchool online gradebook; parents have access to these grades 24/7 through PowerSchool’s ParentPortal

If RCPS moved to a 9 weeks grading period…

Middle & High School: No additional work would be required of teachers since their grades are already done with PowerSchool. Interim reports could be printed every 4 1/2 weeks by office staff and sent home to parents who do not access grades online -- currently 45% of parents. There would be no appreciable change in costs. The net effect is an increase in communication to parents.

Elementary School: Teachers would be expected to: –continue their current practice of regularly sending home folders, etc. with student work and comments –complete an online report card including comments every 9 weeks in PowerSchool similar to the Excel report card now used in schools –post using PowerSchool evaluative information on each student which could be accessed by parents electronically as well as printed by office staff as interim reports for those who cannot access the information through the internet Upper elementary teachers would be trained in using the PowerSchool electronic gradebook so parents could access individual assignments and grades online at any time. There would be no appreciable change in costs. The net effect is an increase in communication to parents.

This is the first page of the current 4th grade report card. It would be converted to a 9-week document in PowerSchool to be printed by office staff four times per year instead of six.

This is the second page of the current 4th grade report card. It would be converted to a 9-week document in PowerSchool to be printed by office staff four times per year instead of six.

The third page of the current report card may be converted to a PowerSchool document similar to this one. Interim Report First 9 Weeks Report Interim Report Second 9 Weeks Report Interim Report Third 9 Weeks Report Interim Report Fourth 9 Weeks Report

In summary Thanks to our current parent/teacher communications systems plus PowerSchool, we are ready to implement a 9 week grading schedule Communication to parents is increased through: –ParentPortal access for all students, PK-12 –Report cards distributed 4 times annually –Regular interim reports –Existing communication systems (weekly folders, newsletters, , websites, Parent-Teacher Conferences, etc.)

Questions?