Guilford County Schools Announce Changes To Grading During Pandemic

Guilford County is offering guidance on the grading process for the remainder of the school year for grades K-12. This comes as districts across the states are adjusting while buildings remain closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

School systems rely on direction from the North Carolina Department of Instruction. Education officials worry about equity issues and missed learning opportunities during the pandemic.

The state says seniors will be given a pass or fail mark for the fourth quarter. Many districts are also working with these students to continue online work in the summer, if they don't pass the classes that are required for graduation.

As for grades K-12, letter grades can't be issued unless schools can ensure all students have access to distance learning. That's nearly impossible, since thousands of students still haven't logged on because of a lack of devices, internet connectivity, and other challenges.

Whitney Oakley, chief academic officer with Guilford County Schools, says third quarter grades will be given based on work completed before the building shutdowns.

“Students will receive grade credit for all of the work that they had completed in their understandings through March 13 and then either the pass or withdraw for the fourth quarter,” she says. “We are still waiting on additional guidance for how grade point averages will be calculated because that will be done at the state level.”

Oakley says teachers in the Guilford County School system have until the end of day on Friday, April 17th to enter grades for any work that was completed prior to March 13th.

The district has added 16 mobile hotspots in school parking lots and distributed more than 13,000 laptops to help students with the changes.

Nearly 7,000 GCS students in grades K-12 still have not logged in for remote learning.

For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you're experiencing.

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