Katie Oxendine
The grading and reporting committee has been exploring the role of zero in grading and how it drastically changes a student's grade.

According to available literature, the principles of grading and reporting are to inform instructional decisions, record both students' and teachers' progress, and provide feedback to students, parents, and teachers about what the student has learned and is able to do. Some believe that giving a student a zero is letting that student off easy, and not giving them any motivation to improve. There are different ways to substitute the "0" grade as an "F." One suggestion is to change it to a 1.0 instead of a zero. Another one is to change an "F" to a 50 or 60, which makes the spread more equal.

One reason to change to a 50 or 60 or 1.0 is to make students more motivated to do their work. Some schools are using different scales for grading such as an A, B, C, I (incomplete) and advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic. For the incomplete or below basic, students are still expected to finish the assignments to meet an adequate level of work.

According to a group called the Principals’ Partnership, the following points are what needs to be discussed and agreed upon to make a grading policy: learning goals of the school, the purposes of grades, factors that should be included when grading, the role of zero and how lack of achievement will be assessed and recorded, weighting of grades, ways in which to document student progress, how feedback will inform the instructional program, programs that will assist students and help them become responsible for their own learning, communication with students and parents about the school's grading policy and expectations, define and develop meaningful assessments, periodic reexamination and assessment and modification of the grading system.