School Board Adopts Grading Policy The Orange County School Board approved revisions to School Board Policy IKC, Grading Policy at its meeting on Monday, March 1, 2010. The new policy becomes effective with the 2010-11 school year. The policy reflected consensus of the grading committee, which consisted of twenty teachers, parents, and administrators who met monthly in September 2009 through December 2009. The committee was chaired by Chuck Winkler, Director of Elementary Instruction, and Linda Carlton, Director of Secondary Instruction. In addition to school level collaboration, input on revisions to the policy was obtained through the Teacher Advisory Committee and the Parent Advisory Committee. Revisions to the policy also were posted on the Orange County Public Schools website on February 2, 2010, for public review prior to the School Board’s public comment session on February 23, 2010. Three major changes are reflected in the new policy: implementation of a ten point grading scale to comply with a statewide initiative and to ensure our students are competitive with students in surrounding counties especially when applying for college admission inclusion of a formula for calculating nine weeks grades to achieve consistency in grading practice in grades 2 - 12 changes to the retest policy which will allow all students the ability to retest to promote learning instead of only those who fail an assessment. Students can earn up to 80% for a retested assessment Mrs. Carlton stated, “It was an honor to work with committee members who diligently sought to create equity and consistency in our grading process throughout the county. The decisions reached were not always easy ones, but in the end after reviewing all the pros and cons to each option, the committee based their agreement on what is best for the majority of our students.” “There was a great deal of deliberation and discussions culminating in a thorough, fair policy for the future success of the children of Orange County,” added Mr. Winkler. Orange County High School Principal, Gene Kotulka, was also pleased with the efforts of the committee. "I believe that the committee did an excellent job of recognizing that grades are standardized measurements of varying levels of student comprehension. The proposed grading policy reflects student learning which for high school students is very important." For questions about the revisions to the grading policy, please contact Mr. Winkler or Mrs. Carlton at 661-4550.   2009-2010 News and Highlights Index