Cedar Rapids school district looks to shift grading system

CEDAR RAPIDS - Parents, teachers, and students gathered to discuss a new grading system that the Cedar Rapids Community School District is implementing in some schools. This is the first of seven meetings the district is hosting to address concerns around the learner-based assessment system.

'We realize it's a significant change, something we've done for 100 years we just can't flip the switch,” said Associate Superintendent Trace Pickering. 'We have lots of work to do to prepare the teachers, to make sure our curriculum is aligned with this kind of approach, to make sure parents are comfortable.”

The new system shifts away from traditional letter grades and instead focuses on students mastering standards. Students are then graded as exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, working toward expectations, or there being no expectation, meaning the student hasn't been taught that standard.

All elementary schools currently use the scale, but Roosevelt and McKinley middle schools are currently piloting the program now.

Pickering said the district would like to continue expanding the grading system to more schools, but a timeline isn't in place for that to happen.

'We want to roll it out as soon as we're ready, but we don't want to push it too fast,” Pickering said. 'We'd have lots of things to fix if we went too fast.”

Pickering also said the district has encountered problems while rolling the scale out at Roosevelt and McKinley, but said that's to be expected.

'This is a pretty significant change in the way we think about how we assess kids,” he said. 'We knew going in it would be challenging and there would be things we'd have to fix and change.”

The system eliminates grades for daily homework, although teachers still track that assignments are completed. Instead, grades are assigned based on assessments and participation. Students can re-take assessments until they can prove they've mastered a standard.

'What matters is the learning,” Pickering said. 'This shatters the assumption that being smart means I get it the first time.”

The list of future meeting times and locations is available on the district's website.