Responding to continuing challenges caused by the COVID-19 school closure, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved measures addressing student grading for the remainder of the school year. Dr. Jason B. Atkinson, Bladen County Schools Chief Technology Officer, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and Director of Federal Programs, clarified the temporary grading system in detail this morning for Bladen County students and caregivers.
Atkinson broke the temporary grading measures down to further explain what students and parents should expect. His explanation in the grading measures is as follows.
K-5 grades will have a blank as the final grade with detailed comments for guardians from teachers on their report cards. The details will include the child’s strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. A detailed report of this information will be filed in a transition document that will follow the child.
6-8 grades will receive a PC19 or a WC19 according to their grades as of March 13th and the grades they have received while distant learning. The grade PC19 will indicate the student passed the course. WC19 simply indicates a lack of evidence of mastery of standards addressed in the particular content area.
The report cards will have detailed comments from teachers and a transition document will be filed and follow the students. Middle school students taking high school level courses such as Math I or Math II will have the same grading options as high school students.
9-11 grades will have a choice in what grading measures they receive. The students may choose a traditional numerical grade or they may go with the PC19 or WC19 temporary grading measures. The choice may be used by course. There will also be a cumulative folder for each high school student on kept record.
The honors numeric system may also count in the numeric grading system at this time. It is important to note that the SBE may need to revisit the current policies in place if there is no return to face-to-face instruction in May 2020.
Seniors who were passing a course as of March 13 will be issued a final course grade of “PC19”, but those who were not passing as of that time shall be allowed to work on improving their grade to a passing mark. The scope of content to be addressed is only up through that content addressed in the course by March 13, not the entire course. The grade of “WC19” could be used for a course that is no longer needed for graduation requirements.
Due to the North Carolina Stay at Home Order traditional high school graduations are in question. Bladen County Schools Superintendent, Dr. Robert Taylor said the high school graduations are the largest events the schools’ host and at this time it is not certain how graduations will be conducted.
May 5th the Bladen County Schools District will announce their plans for this year’s high schools’ graduation ceremonies.
The next Bladen County School Board meeting will be held on May 11th at 6 p.m.
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