The Lafayette Parish School Board will be presented with proposed changes aimed to standardize high school grading practices throughout the district.

The Pupil Progression Committee, tasked with making policy recommendations on a wide variety of topics related to instruction, has issued changes that the School Board will vote on at its meeting on Aug. 5.

The most prominent change that the committee is suggesting is a student's final nine-weeks grade be based on 60 percent summative assessments such as tests, essays or research papers, and 40 percent formative assessments such as quizzes, lab reports, and in-class work evaluated for correctness. Teachers should give a minimum of eight graded assessments per nine week grading period which will consist of at least four summative and four formative assessments.

Another suggested change is that extra credit or bonus points should only be given based on content knowledge that is pertinent to knowledge of the subject being taught.

Finally, grades based on class participation should have a rubric attached that is based on standardized performance.

Standardizing grading practices is part of the school board's efforts to improve the district's academic standards.

Chief Academic Officer Annette Samec told the school board at its July 8 meeting, that students' grades could differ from class to class or teacher to teacher for the same amount and content of work.

Next summer, Samec said, the district will focus on similar standardization of grading practices for grades K-8.

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