October 2007,

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The Archdiocese of NY has determined that each school must develop a school wide grading policy that must be submitted and approved annually by the District Superintendent. The school policy must include a review of assessment, quality content structure and weighting. The policy must be discussed annually with the faculty for changes or revision. All teachers must abide by the policy.

The Archdiocese provided the schools with a range of percentages to be assigned to each category. The following breakdown provides the ADNY suggested ranges and the assignment of percentages at ICS.

As can be noted above, 80% of your child’s grade will be derived from work that is actually performed in school. This work includes tests, quizzes, classwork and participation. Work that is completed outside the classroom; homework, projects and portfolios, will comprise 20% of your child’s grade. It is important to note that tests and quizzes only count for 50% of the report card grade. This provides students with ample opportunity (50% worth) to improve grades through other avenues. Full participation in class, full compliance with homework and project/portfolio work is strongly encouraged.

The Archdiocese strongly discourages the use of extra credit. We will follow this recommendation at Immaculate Conception. In the unlikely event that a situation arises that extra credit might seem needed, the teacher will discuss this possibility with the administration.

The process for determining credit for classwork, participation, homework and projects/portfolios may vary according to grade, subject and teacher. It is important that you and your child are familiar with this process.

The establishment of a school wide grading system based on recommendations by the archdiocese is a new initiative. At the conclusion of this school year we will evaluate our policy and determine if revisions or changes are necessary. Thank you for your support as we bring this program into action.


Sincerely,

Maureen J. Harten
Principal