The Mount Vernon School District continues the review of evidence based reporting (EBR) grading.
Superintendent Matt Leeman said the goal is for the group to reconvene in the last two weeks in June after attending a conference to look at any changes that can be implemented as teachers gear up for a new school year.
Leeman said that one of the changes that they are looking at is reducing the amount of time for make-up work from a week down to three to five days before assignments are marked as missing or no evidence. That is to help address one of the issues they continually face – student apathy.
“We have encountered students who determine at a certain point in a quarter or semester that they can maintain a certain grade and contribute no additional work,” Leeman said. “That’s not what we want to see. We want them to remain learning and engaged throughout the semester.”
Leeman said he will provide an update at the July school board meeting on the progress, but is hopeful that the committee will come up with solutions to the weighting of the two and tackling student apathy, as the group has had good discussions on both.
Board member Jason Clark said he hopes the changes will weight homework less than test scores.
The district will have to evaluate math and social studies curriculum this year, as the state made changes to requirements there.
Board member Kristy Meyer said she is hopeful to see any action taken on this, as there have been a lot of years of conversation on remedies for the grading issues.
Leeman said he is not interested in kicking the can down the road for another year as well.
“This isn’t just a one time fix,” Leeman said. “We can make changes then reassess if they didn’t do what they anticipated.”
Board member Suzette Kragenbrink said that when EBR first rolled out, it was a slower process, taking two to three years to fully integrate.
“It was an overwhelming amount of work to change the process,” Kragenbrink said. “The issue is most students aren’t mature enough to do homework because they should.”
Leeman said he is hoping to have teachers and staff be more committed to any changes, not just complying.
Clark also urged teachers to allow students to advocate for themselves.