July 29, 2022
Today, Baltimore City Public Schools released a response to the Maryland State Department of Education’s (MSDE) request for information about our grading policy implementation.
City Schools shares MSDE Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury‘s sense of responsibility to ensure that all students have the highest quality education, including student grading policies that are clear, transparent, and implemented with fidelity.
The report includes ten main areas:
- Updates to City Schools’ Grading Policy and Administrative Regulation
- Updates to Grade Change Procedures in Alignment with COMAR Revisions
- Implementation of Grading Policy Updates in the 2019-20 School Year
- Review of School-Specific Grading Policies
- Building on the Foundation Established by Infinite Campus Grade Reporting Protocols and Monitoring Tools
- Grade Reporting to MSDE
- Central Office Staffing to Support Grading Processes
- Quality Control Measures to Support Implementation of Grading Protocols
- Temporary Adjustments to Grading During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Next Steps
City Schools is committed to providing clear and relevant grading information to our families and staff. We recognize that ensuring accuracy and consistency in grading will require ongoing analysis and monitoring of our data to track progress. We also appreciate MSDE’s partnership in supporting our efforts moving forward.
In June, the Maryland Office of the Inspector General (OIGE) released the results of a multi-year review of grade changes in City Schools. City Schools’ response to the OIGE can be found here. And on July 28, the Maryland State Board of Education responded to Governor Larry Hogan’s request for an independent investigation of grade changes in City Schools.
City Schools welcomes the opportunity to contract with an external entity to ensure we maintain our path of continuous improvement. City Schools will focus this additional layer of review on grading practices during school year 2022-23. That is the first school year after the main thrust of the COVID pandemic, offering current data in a hopefully near-normal school environment.