Brighton Central School District Grading Philosophy

The purpose of grades is to provide high-quality information about student learning to students, parents, teachers, administrators, and other educators.  They should reflect achievement of intended learning outcomes and be set up to support student motivation to learn.  

 To be high quality, grades must be:

Meaningful

• Grades should reflect the measure of student learning against a defined set of standards. 
  • We believe that grades should clearly show the student's areas of strength and areas that need improvement.

Consistent

• Grades should be derived consistently across classrooms in order to negate the impact of subjectivity.
  • Across grade level/courses, there will be an agreed upon set of non-negotiable standards/priorities (ie - we all agree on what we are teaching)
  • Common understanding of quality should be established through calibration within and across grade levels

Accurate

• Grades should reflect academic achievement.  Nonacademic factors could be reported but not included in a measure of achievement.

Supportive of Learning

• Grades should be supportive of learning and involve the student in the entire learning process.
  • We believe descriptive feedback correlated to identified standards is essential.  Students will have opportunities to reflect on that feedback and revise their performance.

O'Conner & Cooper, 2008, p. 24