New Bloomfield R-III School Board discusses 80/20 grading policy

The elementary school adopted the policy this school year, the middle/high school has been using it for 4 years

New Bloomfield R-III elementary school has been approaching grading differently this year.

The school instituted an 80/20 grading policy - the same grading policy the district's middle/high school switched to four years ago. At the New Bloomfield Board of Education meeting Thursday night, the board, superintendent, school principals and assistant principals discussed the 80/20 grading policy, which weights assessments as 80 percent of students' grades while weighting homework and other assignments as 20 percent.

Regarding the 80/20 formula, the 80 refers to assessments/assignments in which the students were unassisted and the 20 refers to assignments in which they had assistance of a parent, text book, etc. In the group's discussion Thursday night, Elementary School Principal Julie Gerloff stressed that the word assessment does not always refer to a test. An assessment is a quiz, test, presentation, assignment, etc. that was done by an individual, with no help from parents, peers or a text book.

Both the middle/high school and elementary school made the switch to an 80/20 grading system because they felt it would provide a more accurate representation of how much students in the district know.

Superintendent David Tramel said the district noticed that how students scored on the state tests was not matching up with their honor roll.

"We had kids on the A and B honor roll who were getting basic or below basic on the state tests," Tramel said.

During Thursday night's meeting, middle/high school Assistant Principal Susan Dudley said that since using the 80/20 formula, the high school has seen a high correlation between high school students' course grades and their End of Course (EOC) Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) scores.

Tramel added that the high school's test scores have increased since switching to the 80/20 grading formula. He stressed the importance of having quality assessments.

"When they get back in that class and show the teacher on a test or assessment, that's what really counts," Tramel said. "That's what they really know. The rest of it is how they learn it."

Gerloff said the elementary school as a community will continue to discuss and improve the new grading policy. For example, teachers of the same grade level have had more discussions and planning time together to ensure grading consistency across each grade level. Gerloff said she would like to see the district move into standards-based grading.

"I want to move beyond the letter grade," Gerloff told the board.

Tramel pointed out that adopting the 80/20 grading policy is a transition that the elementary school only just started this school year.

"It's eight weeks into it," Tramel said Thursday night.

Davidson said the middle and high school teachers and administration continue to discuss and tweak their grading policy, four years after their initial switch. They often talk about what types of assignments and assessments fit into the 80 category versus the 20 category. Tramel described the 80/20 grading formula as a learning curve.

Gerloff said the school's goal is to more accurately assess student achievement and she thinks the 80/20 formula will help do that.