44-33. Grading Practices
44-33.1. Teachers Grading Responsibilities.
Teachers are responsible for regularly assessing student progress, notifying students and parents of student progress, and determining students’ grades in the subject area or activity for which the teacher is responsible. Teachers shall exercise their independent professional judgment in developing their grading practices. When developing individual teachers' practices, teachers shall follow the Professional Grading Standards and Grading Practices Guidelines (“Guidelines”) established by Joint Board and CTU Task Force. Grade level and content teams shall align grading practices to achieve coherence across similar courses in the same grade level. Teachers’ grading practices must be published at the beginning of the course and must be clear to students, parents, administration and staff.
44-33.2. Grading Practice Guidelines.
CPS and CTU shall form a joint task force of 10 educators (five appointed by CPS and five appointed by CTU) to develop CPS professional standards and guidelines for teacher grading practices, e.g., recommended frequency and sequencing of assessment, number of assessments per quarter etc. These grading practice guidelines shall require a coherent researched based approach to grading practices within schools, grade bands and content teams, the use of CPS electronic parent portal “Gradebook” or other electronic system for housing student grades and notifying students and parents of assignments, assessment and grades. Effective School Year 2025-2026, the taskforce shall review the Professional Grading Standards and Grading Practices Guidelines adopted on August 15, 2017 and update them by consensus to the extent possible and, where not possible, by majority vote of the taskforce members. Thereafter, the Joint CTU/CPS task force shall review the guidelines every two years. During each review period, the task force shall consider input from students and parents when proposing changes.