Grading Policy
(2024-2025)
Grades are the common language through which students, teachers, families, and school leaders communicate about students’ learning throughout the school year. Grades provide feedback to students and families about academic progress, influence students’ motivation and engagement in their learning, and inform instructional and programmatic decisions. The NYCDOE citywide grading policy promotes equity, flexibility, and empathy in our grading practices for all students. As we support students, ensuring that students’ grades accurately represent their progress is more important than ever.
Marking periods are intervals during a course when the teacher of record awards an interim mark, which provides status updates to students, families, and other stakeholders.
1st Marking Period - 9/5/2024 - 12/12/2024
Report Cards available online via NYC Schools Accounts (NYCSA): Friday, Dec 13
Parent Teacher Conferences: Thursday, Nov 7
2nd Marking Period - 12/14/2024 - 03/4/2025
Report Cards available online via NYC Schools Accounts (NYCSA): Wednesday, Mar 5
Parent-Teacher Conferences: Thursday, Mar 6
3rd Marking Period - 3/7/2025 - 6/25/2025
Report Cards available online via NYC Schools Accounts (NYCSA): Wednesday, June 26
Grades
The purpose of any reporting system is to strengthen the home-school partnership and inform families of the progress their child is making toward grade-level benchmarks. They reflect a student’s understanding and command of content, progression through a course or subject, and mastery of skills at a given time. Benchmarks increase over the year. In other words, what a student is expected to know in December differs from what they are expected to know in June. Therefore, a student can meet a benchmark in December and not meet that same benchmark in March. Maintaining the same grade from one marking period to the next means the child demonstrated growth in that indicator or skill.
Grading Scale
PS 261 uses the NYCDOE-approved 4-point grading scale (1-4). Grades reflect a student's academic progress and performance and are determined by considering a student’s entire body of work. Grades are determined by classwork (independent work, partner work, and group work), classroom discussions, on-demand assignments, unit assessments, small group work, and student-teacher conferences.
| Course Mark | Performance Level Scale | Scale for Social-Emotional Development and Academic and Personal Behaviors: |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Exceeds grade standards | Consistently meets expectations with independence |
| 3 | Meeting grade standards | Meets expectations |
| 2 | Approaching grade standards | Meets expectations when reminded/Meets expectations occasionally |
| 1 | Below grade standards | Difficulty meeting expectations |
Students with disabilities
All students, including students with disabilities, should be working toward grade-level standards and should receive grades based on how well they comprehend the content and skills addressed in a course or subject. Grades for students with IEPs are based on the child’s personal IEP goals and rate of progress and not solely on specific grade-level standards. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) describes specially designed instruction and accommodations for an individual student that creates access to grade-level standards and enables progress toward annual goals. Students’ receipt of accommodations does not impact the grade earned. Students with disabilities have the same opportunity to earn grades as all other students. Report cards provide feedback on a student’s progress in the general education curriculum and reflect the likelihood a student will meet or has already met their annual goals. The comment section is important because it highlights the child's strengths, areas of focus, and goals for the year.
Considerations for accuracy, equity, and social-emotional well-being:
In alignment with the NYCPS vision for culturally responsive-sustaining education, the following is taken into consideration:
Accuracy: Grades should accurately measure what we expect students to demonstrate in their learning so that we maintain high expectations for all students;
For example, Grading student work based on understanding concepts and mastery of skills is different from grading based on assignment completion alone. When student work is graded based on how well students understand the content and perform in the subject, the students and teachers receive valuable information about how well the students are doing.
Equity: Grades should minimize the effects of bias and eliminate practices that penalize students who have been marginalized based on their race, culture, language, and ability;
For example, we offer assessments in multiple modalities when possible to ensure that the method of expression does not interfere with a student’s demonstration of proficiency.
Social-emotional well-being: Grades should contribute to a positive learning culture that promotes academic risk-taking and social-emotional well-being and de-emphasizes both competitions for grades and grading based on factors beyond the scope of the classroom and beyond students’ control, such as attendance, housing status, and access to study space and Wi-Fi.
For example, Student work and feedback connect to a specific learning goal. If an assignment does not correspond to a stated learning goal, it measures students’ compliance rather than their learning. Feedback and grades over time on specific learning goals maximize transparency and provide more directed support. Systems for celebrating student excellence can include recognizing meaningful progress, contributions to the school or broader community, and demonstrations of social justice and integrity (e.g., writing celebrations).