Page 47 - Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools. First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12. 2010

CHAPTER 5 | evaluation
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EVALUATION
• For Grades 7 and 8, teachers will use the code “R”, as defined below on this page, to indicate achievement below 50 per cent.
• For Grades 9 to 12, teachers will use percentage marks to indicate achievement below 50 per cent. See below on this page for a discussion of percentage marks below 50 per cent.
• For Grades 7 to 10, teachers may use the code “I”, as defined on page 42. (“I” may not be used in Grades 11 and 12.)
For Grades 9 to 12, a final grade (percentage mark) is recorded for every course. The final grade will
be determined as follows:
• Seventy per cent of the grade will be based on evaluation conducted throughout the course. This portion of the grade should reflect the student’s most consistent level of achievement throughout the course, although special consideration should be given to more recent evidence of achievement.
• Thirty per cent of the grade will be based on a final evaluation administered at or towards the end of the course. This evaluation will be based on evidence from one or a combination of the following: an examination, a performance, an essay, and/or another method of evaluation suitable to the course content. The final evaluation allows the student an opportunity to demonstrate comprehensive achievement of the overall expectations for the course.
A credit is granted and recorded for every course in which the student’s final percentage mark is 50 per cent or higher. Procedures for students whose final grade is below 50 per cent and who do not receive a credit are outlined in the ministry policy document Ontario Secondary Schools, Grades 9 to 12: Program and Diploma Requirements, 1999 (currently under revision).
THE MEANING AND USE OF “R” AND OF PERCENTAGE MARKS BELOW 50 PER CENT
The code “R” represents achievement that falls below level 1 and is used in the evaluation and reporting of student achievement in Grades 1 to 8. For achievement below level 1 in Grades 9 to 12, percentage marks below 50 per cent are assigned. Both “R” and marks below 50 per cent signal that additional learning is required before the student begins to achieve success in meeting the subject/grade or course expectations. “R” and percentage marks below 50 per cent indicate the need for the development of strategies to address the student’s specific learning needs in order to support his or her success in learning. When appropriate, parents will be consulted in this process. (In Grades 1 to 8, students with an Individual Education Plan [IEP] who require modified or alternative expectations and beginning English language learners with modified expectations would rarely receive an “R”.)
Individual boards will work collaboratively with their school communities to determine the lower limit of the range of percentage marks below 50 per cent that teachers may record on the report cards of students in Grades 9 to 12. It is important that a consistent approach is adopted among all the schools of a board.
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