The 2019-20 school year is off and running! Students are engaging with their learning in exciting ways and Marysville Schools is making considerable strides forward to continue personalizing learning. Everyone, students and teachers alike, are hard at work!
A new school year also means improved grading and reporting practices for our Alt K through sixth grade students. Our elementary and intermediate schools are excited to embark on this change as we know it will only enhance and strengthen our parent partnership. Personalized Learning not only impacts instruction, but it also impacts the ways in which we grade and report learning outcomes. The purpose of grades serve four very imperative functions. Grades serve as a (1) means of transparent communication, (2) a format for ongoing feedback between the learner and the teacher, (3) a strategy to engage learners to own their learning through monitoring their own progress, and (4) rich data to inform instruction, support needs, and enrichment opportunities. Throughout a school year, grades are simply a snapshot of where a student is on his or her learning path and mastery of learning targets.
In alignment with our goals to Personalize Learning in MEVSD, district leaders, teachers, and instructional coaches worked together over the past two years to prioritize and calibrate transparent learning targets in each grade level and content area. These learning targets directly align to Ohio’s Learning Standards. We aim to strengthen our communication by improving existing structures, such as our curriculum and reporting formats.
This school year marks the first year MEVSD will provide families with that same level of transparency in our grading and reporting practices. First, learning targets will be accessible by students in the classroom and at the instructional level. Second, learning targets will be accessible by parents and families. The formal tools that will enable this transparent communication are interim reports and grade cards at each traditional reporting period. In addition, a mastery learning scale will support the way in which we provide feedback for our learners. Students will be creatively and flexibly partnering with their teachers to actualize the Marysville guarantee that every student in grades Alt K through sixth will have ongoing opportunities to advance in their learning at their own pace toward mastery. While teachers will recommend mid year expectations for pacing and achievement, feedback will be provided to learners and families regarding a student’s individual progress toward mastery. The new standards-based mastery grade card will serve as just one means of communication. Families can expect to see this new grade card at the end of each trimester.
Principals will be communicating to parents to provide information, access to the standards based grade card, and ways in which they can access standards progress during the school year! We invite all to attend parent nights, engage with principal communication, and reach out with questions!