Grading at PS 39
At PS 39 we focus on mastery learning of concepts and skills. We are providing the resources on this page to help our families better understand mastery learning, how we communicate this with our families and how grades are used to support this.
Grading and Course Marks
This presentation from our family workshops in the winter of 2023 provides an overview of mastery learning, information on course marks used on report cards, and resources for how these course marks are assigned.
Families will also be able to view a video recording of this presentation.
Families are encouraged to review this Grading FAQ document to answer some of the most common questions about grading at PS 39.
The two-part video recording of our final Grading and Course Marks Presentation can be found below:
https://cloud.swivl.com/v/fcd5c191d59e8f61c039d70657f24790
Password: FDB6NWUB
https://cloud.swivl.com/v/2b37fbc741049bb11ed51d4d3cfd467f
Password: EX7QT3EA
Grading Policy
Our grading system communicates your child’s overall grade level mastery at that moment in time. Ongoing feedback from your child’s teacher relays their specific progress towards this mastery across the curriculum.
4= Excels in Grade Level Standards
3= Meets Grade Level Standards
2= Approaching Grade Level Standards
1= Below Grade Level Standards
We intentionally separate grading and feedback as much as possible for our students, knowing that the research says that the impact of feedback is significantly reduced when connected to alphanumeric grading. Knowing how important feedback is to the learning process we want to ensure that it is as impactful as possible to student learning. In keeping with this belief you will not see the course marks outside of the report card and instead will see the following language: below, approaching, meeting and excelling in grade level standards.
This course marks system does not perfectly align to mastery based grading, however, it is the system that meets the DOE requirements and most closely aligns with the intentions of mastery based grading.
We looked to many peer schools and the most cutting edge research to build this policy. Schools such as Brooklyn New School, Poly Prep, Berkeley Carroll, Mary MacDowell all use similar grading policies.
Additional Resources for that inform our policy
4= Excels in Grade Level Standards
3= Meets Grade Level Standards
2= Approaching Grade Level Standards
1= Below Grade Level Standards
We intentionally separate grading and feedback as much as possible for our students, knowing that the research says that the impact of feedback is significantly reduced when connected to alphanumeric grading. Knowing how important feedback is to the learning process we want to ensure that it is as impactful as possible to student learning. In keeping with this belief you will not see the course marks outside of the report card and instead will see the following language: below, approaching, meeting and excelling in grade level standards.
This course marks system does not perfectly align to mastery based grading, however, it is the system that meets the DOE requirements and most closely aligns with the intentions of mastery based grading.
We looked to many peer schools and the most cutting edge research to build this policy. Schools such as Brooklyn New School, Poly Prep, Berkeley Carroll, Mary MacDowell all use similar grading policies.
Additional Resources for that inform our policy
Mastery Learning Resources
Practices in Action Checklists for ELA and Math by Grade Level
Lifelong Practices of Readers and Writers by Grade Level
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Lifelong Practices of Mathematicians by Grade Level
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