Optional Home Tasks
PS 39 values family choice and flexibility regarding homework. Study after study has shown that time spent on reading has the highest correlation with increased achievement. We have a menu of optional at-home learning tasks below for families to reference.
All children should see connections between what they are learning in school and their lives outside of school. Our optional menu of activities that students might like to complete at home, either with their families or on their own, is connected to their in school learning.
All children should see connections between what they are learning in school and their lives outside of school. Our optional menu of activities that students might like to complete at home, either with their families or on their own, is connected to their in school learning.
Elementary age children’s absorbent mind is primed for active learning. Elementary children need to explore and be exposed to a broad range of activities and experiences. This is the real learning for this age range. Skill-based homework has a more beneficial effect on older students who are in the middle grades and high school. When students are expected to complete work outside of school, it impacts their ability to access learning during the school day and creates equity issues.
Optional Learning at Home A Guide for Parents
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xFYCKYRdXs9PXzHPCIr4vw9edYnr6MLA/edit#slide=id.g2904d7b5c4b_0_0
At Home Learning Menus
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YR0DK0ax5EhijdCWRYVE71CQ3vqIiQkCb
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xFYCKYRdXs9PXzHPCIr4vw9edYnr6MLA/edit#slide=id.g2904d7b5c4b_0_0
At Home Learning Menus
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YR0DK0ax5EhijdCWRYVE71CQ3vqIiQkCb
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.
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.
Grading in elementary school does not impact student access to future opportunities. Middle schools in our district do not look at grades, our district uses a lottery system for addimissions. Private schools either contact schools directly to understand their grading policies or more commonly use independent assessments to evaluate if a student would be a good fit for their community.
Resources
- MT = Meets grade-level standards
- MP = Approaching grade-level standards
- N = Needs Improvement
- NL = Insufficient Data
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.
Grading in elementary school does not impact student access to future opportunities. Middle schools in our district do not look at grades, our district uses a lottery system for addimissions. Private schools either contact schools directly to understand their grading policies or more commonly use independent assessments to evaluate if a student would be a good fit for their community.
Resources