Beginning this school year, Gorham High School (GHS) students will receive their grades in numerical form and not by the 1-4 system which was part of the blended system used last school year. Other changes to the district grading system are explained in the revised Learning System Handbook available on the district’s website. The 42-page handbook is on the Learning System page under “About Us.”

Superintendent Heather Perry briefly explained these changes and other aspects of the Gorham Learning System in response to the following questions. She welcomes additional questions about the grading system and can be contacted at heather.perry@gorhamschools.org.

What is the difference between Proficiency Based Learning and the Gorham Learning System? Is the district still committed to PBL?

Yes, the Gorham Schools will continue to utilize a system where students must demonstrate proficiency in specific standards. The essential components of a proficiency based system have been utilized in our schools since the early 2000s and will continue to be in our current learning system.

How will changes in grading practices affect GHS students other than going from the 1-4 system to the numerical one? Can you express that in a few bullet points?

Assessment scores will reflect a student’s score in relation to their demonstration of specific skills as defined by our standards and not on a simple % of items correct.

Content area scores will still be kept separately from Skills for Life (SFL) scores. But the two WILL interact so students who do not do their homework will have their grades impacted by that choice.

SFL scores will also be used to determine eligibility for extracurricular activities as well as eligibility for Honor Roll and High Honor Roll.

Parents are concerned that there is too much discrepancy between how two teachers determine proficiency, particularly in the same subject area. Can you respond to that?

The determination of how a student does on any assignment has always had a subjective component. In our current learning system, we are asking teachers to do two things with scoring criteria. One is to align their instruction and assessments to our specific standards. By doing so, they actually “tighten up” on how scores on assessments are determined across content areas and classes. Also, we are making it more clear to students and teachers what skills or knowledge need to be demonstrated to be successful in a summative assessment.

Is it true that a student’s final grade will go back to being an average of all four quarters? Why did the administration make this change?

Yes. The administration made this change based upon student and staff requests and feedback.

There seems to be a lot of concern about Skills for Life grades. An example is that if a student puts her cell phone in a “tower,” she gets only a 3 (or 87), not a 4. She did everything asked of her, so shouldn’t she get the highest grade?

Some skills are either there, or they are not. You either do them or you don’t. For example, a student shows up for basketball practice or they don’t show up. You can’t get a 4 for showing up. For some very basic skills, there is no 4. If the expectation is that every student puts their phone in the tower for a 3, then everyone who does that gets a 3. But with the skills that count there are always graduations of levels where students can go above and beyond what is basic and earn a 4.

This is no different from what it has always been in a classroom. When we arrived with a book and pencil, we did not expect to get
a 100. We expected to get work learning some skills for which we might earn a 100.

We have heard and fully agree that students need to be able to excel, therefore it is a rule that for every SUMMATIVE assessment of student skills, a student must have the opportunity to earn a 4.

Do other districts report Skills for Life “GPA” on transcripts for college admissions? If not, is it unfair to GHS students to include this information which may affect their admission?

Students, staff, and our parents have clearly and consistently requested that we ensure that Skills For Life (SFL) are seen as IMPORTANT to students, and therefore are given significant weight. This is the reason we report this score on college transcripts. It is a measure of ensuring that students take these very important skills seriously, even if they think they might not impact their content area grades as much as they have in the past.

We made the decision to include the Skills For Life GPA on transcripts in response to lots of feedback from all stakeholders who asked us to make sure students know these skills are important.

People are hung up on the terms used by educators, particularly “formative” and “summative” even though they are in the glossary. Can you state each of these concepts, with an example, in one or two sentences?

To use an analogy from sports, “formative” work is practice work that prepares you to succeed in the game. Any assessments made during practice are to provide feedback so you will be prepared for the game. “Summative” work is what you do in the actual game.

Like coaches, teachers want their students to work hard in practice so they will do well on the summative assessment, the graded assessment.