New Grading Procedures

“You are never a failure until you quit trying” and “effort produces achievement.”

I have said this countless times over the past decade as a principal in C-FB ISD. Now, with the adoption by the district of the new grading procedures the above statements and a reassessment can provide our students the opportunity to demonstrate they have increased their knowledge, skills, and or concepts from their previous assessment.

 In other words, if you put in the effort you can improve your grade and learn more of the material that you are being assessed on.

Learning takes time, and for each individual the amount of time varies. After two years of piloting the new grading procedures in various schools in our district, C-FB has now adopted the grading procedures district wide.

What does that mean for the Creekview students?

It means that the important concepts that you are being asked to learn and master on summative assignments will now have an asterisk by them. If you score below an 85 and meet the reassessment procedures for that assessment, you have the opportunity to improve your grade up to an 85. Let me remind you, this is not about the grade so much as it is about the learning or mastery of the subject matter. (You and your parents may think differently)

How will a second or third chance impact you as the learner?

Life is about choices. You can choose to ignore the opportunity to reassess or you can meet the conditions needed for the reassessment to occur and try again for a grade up to an 85. Responsibility for your learning is really on you, whether it is the first assessment or an additional assessment given at a later time. Sometimes, we all need a second or third chance in life to get it right and to learn more!

Why do we want to give our students reassessment opportunities?

A principle of learning is that learning takes time. For all of the conspiracy theorists out there the real reason for the change in our grading procedures is that we want each of our students to have an opportunity (if they so choose) to be able to learn the material that your teachers are asking you to learn.

At Creekview, so many of our students have learned the material, and have learned it well. Our SAT and ACT scores are the highest in the district. Our scores on these same tests actually beat the state average and yes, even the national average! In addition to this you may have seen our ERG (Educational Resource Group) scores and ranking from last year as I have celebrated our student’s remarkable accomplishment of being ranked #3 in the state when compared to the 200 largest schools in our great state. This ranking is based on passing rate on state assessments, the commended rate on the state assessments, ACT & SAT scores, and our graduation rate.

The grading procedures that have been piloted in our district are refined and are in place now for you. The reassessment procedures are there to do nothing more than to help you learn the material at even higher levels of mastery…that is if you need it and if you choose to take advantage of it.

 Choose wisely, show some grit, and continue to do great things as Creekview High School Mustangs!!

Sincerely,

Your Honored Principal,

Mr. LaPuma

“Offer the Best, Expect the Best, Be the Best”