Grading and Standards at UNMS

Grading at University Neighborhood Middle School is based on the premise that not all students learn in the same way or at the same pace. Assessments measure students’ progress toward a goal or objective, and are not always part of a student’s grade. The majority of the assessments used are formative in nature, meaning that they are used to inform teachers’ instruction. The grades we give are a measurement of the extent of mastery demonstrated on a group of standards at a given point in time (for instance, at the end of a unit or marking period). The policies below reflect this belief.

In practice, students’ grades are largely based (85%) on the degree of their mastery of the national Common Core standards being assessed by the end of each unit. Similarly, year-end grades are based on the degree of mastery of the standards by the end of the year. As students progress and approach mastery of a standard, their grade for that standard evolves to reflect real learning growth. For instance, if a student scores 65% on reading standard 1 in November but subsequently earns an 85% in April, the lower of the two scores is dropped, as opposed to the traditional averaging of the two.

As such, grades at UNMS should NOT be seen as an average of grades on various assignments over the course of the semester, but rather the average level of mastery achieved across the relevant standards by the end of the learning cycle. Grades at UNMS are a dynamic snapshot of a student’s approach toward mastery.

Traditional categories such as participation, homework completion, and productivity are still assessed as part of our Life Skills rubric, which comprises 15% of a student’s grade.