School District Of Westfield
Bylaws & Policies
 

5430.01 - SPECIAL EDUCATION GRADING

Graduation Requirements

Students who have been identified and staffed as special education students may complete high school with a certificate of completion or a high school diploma. Within the parameters of the high school diploma recipients include both students who are enrolled in a general education curriculum leading to a high school diploma and students enrolled in a special education curriculum leading to a high school diploma. All decisions relative to the type of curriculum that a student should be involved in are IEP decisions.

Determining Class Rank/Honor Roll

A special education student cannot be automatically eliminated from class rank/honor roll consideration due to their handicapping condition. However, the following standards are established for the purposes of determining the requirements to be considered for class rank/honor roll.
 

A.

The student must follow a program leading to a high school diploma. The class rank/honor roll status of special education students will be determined by computing grades from class work that does not differ significantly from the general curriculum. For example: A learning disability (LD) student with a severe deficit in math is taught using a separate functional math curriculum developed by the special education teacher, and for which there is no equivalent counterpart in the general education curriculum. If the student receives an A in this class, it would not be figured in GPA for class rank/honor roll. An emotionally disturbed (ED) student with strong academic skills receives instruction by the special education teacher in the special ed room. The general curriculum is followed (documentation available to support this). If the student receives an A for the course work, it would be computed for class rank/honor roll.
     
 

B.

Modified grades within general education classes will not be considered for the calculation of class rank/honor roll.
     
 

C.

Only general education course grades will be included in the calculation class rank/honor roll.
     
 

D.

In order to be included in honor roll consideration for a given grading period the student must have received non-modified grades in a minimum of four (4) general curriculum courses for that given grading period. A blocked (double period) class shall count as two courses. Class rank consideration shall be based on the requirement that the student receives ten and one half (10.5) credits in graded core-curriculum courses, or one and half (1.5) credits per semester.

Modified Grades

Modified grades are not exclusive to the special education population. The following procedure describes only the use of modified grades within the special education department.

 

A.

A modified grade should be considered only when a student is enrolled in a general education class and is unable to fulfill requirements of the curriculum, such that the student would likely fail the class if held to usual grading standards.
     
 

B.

The criteria upon which the modified grade are to be based must be predetermined in writing and agreed upon by the students general education teacher, the IEP team, and the parent.
     
 

C.

Modified grades should be denoted on the students' report card in the manner allowed by the District - usually an asterisk (*).

Accommodations

Accommodations (modified instruction) may consist of the following examples; orally reading material for a student, allowing student more time, or the use of assistive technology to complete an assignment. Accommodations can include the assistance from another professional or paraprofessional to help re-teach a lesson. The use of any modified instructional approaches does not lead to the use of a modified grade.

Accommodations that are used for assessment (modified assessment) may allow a student to take additional time or have a reader. Testing accommodations can also allow a student to demonstrate their mastery of concepts in a non-traditional manner. Any of these or similar techniques to assess a students' mastery of the prescribed course goals and objectives may not lead to the use of a modified grade.

Adopted 6/19/13