Carlsbad USD Grading Policy Proposal And Public Comment Process - April 17

Press release from the Carlsbad Unified School District:

April 17, 2020

Carlsbad Unified School District has developed a proposed policy for issuing grades during the emergency school facility closures due to COVID-19. Staff will ask the Board of Trustees to approve this temporary policy at the April 22, 2020 Board meeting. We’ve included an overview of the policy below, as well as an overview of our public comment process.

Overview of temporary grading policy
After reviewing guidance from public and private universities, reviewing guidance from the California Department of Education and the San Diego County Office of Education, and discussing with teachers and principals, our staff is recommending that the Carlsbad Unified School District Board of Trustees approve a temporary policy of “credit / no credit” for the second semester / third trimester of the 2019-20 school year for all middle and high schools, and a temporary policy of including comments only on elementary report cards at the end of the 2019-20 school year.

Moving to “credit / no credit” grading will benefit our staff and students without negative consequences for students with collegiate aspirations. The University of California (UC) system, the California State University (CSU) system, the California Community College system, and the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU) system have all issued guidance that supports this decision.

Additionally, colleges across the country have made it clear that students will not be penalized for missing traditional standardized tests or for posting “credit / no credit” transcripts for this term. We have assurances that private institutions will adopt policies so that students are not penalized for “credit / no credit” grading and a lack of opportunity to take standardized assessments. Harvard University has already posted this assurance online. Stanford University posted this information about their own move to “credit / no credit” this semester.

For the purposes of GPA and class rank, all students in the graduating class of 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 will simply have one fewer semester or trimester of graded work for the purposes of GPA calculation. “Credit / no credit” will not factor into GPA or class rank. For the Class of 2020, GPA and class rank will be finalized based on grades reported through the end of Semester 1 (CHS, CVA and CSA) or Trimester 2 (SCHS).

As noted in the UC guidance letter, “no student will be penalized in the campus admission review processes for earning Pass grades in A-G coursework.” Likewise, earning “credit” grades in A-G courses (during the period of COVID-19 school closures) will be sufficient for meeting our CUSD graduation requirements.

Staff has put together the attached slide deck in advance of the Board meeting on April 22, which provides additional detail and rationale. Other high performing school districts in California, including San Dieguito Union High School District, Poway Unified School District, and Palo Alto Unified School District, have already announced a change to a “credit / no credit” system.

Our staff devoted many hours to this decision-making process, trying to ensure equity in the absence of ideal learning conditions for many of our students. Academic stress and pressure is the number one concern shared by students, especially at the high school level. As such, our focus on student safety and learning versus academic performance is appropriate during this difficult time period. As we implement this approach, students will have the time and flexibility to take care of themselves and their families, and they can study and pursue their academic goals without the fear of not being able to keep up.

To see the recommended policy, as well as additional supporting documents, please review Item 8.2 on our agenda for the April 22, 2020 Board meeting.

Process for providing public comment
Our April 22, 2020 meeting of the Board of Trustees will be held via teleconference, and the general public can listen to the proceedings via our YouTube channel. The link to that channel can be accessed via our online agenda; please note that the link will not appear on the agenda until the morning of the meeting. We will also post the YouTube link on our website on Wednesday.

If members of the public would like to provide feedback or public comment to the Board of Trustees about any of the items on the upcoming agenda, including the temporary grading policy, the process is as follows:

• We’ll accept written comments only, in advance of the meeting. Please email your comments to michelle.bell@carlsbadusd.net.
• If you wish for your written comment to be read aloud as “public comment” during the meeting, please indicate this specifically in your communication.
• Requests for written comments to be read aloud will be honored, subject to the Board of Trustees and limited to 5,000 characters, as long as they are received prior to the official start of the meeting.

As always, all of our previous communications can be found on our website at https://cusd-ca.schoolloop.com/covid-19.

This press release was produced by the Carlsbad Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.