Decatur, GA — The City Schools of Decatur School Board will meet on Tuesday, May 24, at 6 p.m. for a work session. The meeting will be held in person at the Wilson School Support Center, 125 Electric Ave. in Decatur.

During the meeting, the school board will continue discussions on the district’s grading system and potential updates to the grading system.

Here are the meeting access instructions:

The board will continue the practice of streaming meetings via Zoom and available at the following link.

Join the Board Meeting: https://csdecatur.zoom.us/j/97923233094

Join by Phone:

Dial: :+1 (646) 558-8656 or +1 (301) 715-8592

Webinar ID: 979 2323 3094

To view the meeting agenda, click here.

City Schools of Decatur is in the early stages of planning the implementation, timeline and logistics of changes to the district’s grading scale. The school board began discussing this topic at the April 26 work session.

Some changes — including eliminating effort grades and zeros in the grade book, creating common assessments and not using ManageBac for general grading — will go into effect in the fall.

The school board will tackle the grading policy and procedures as well as any possible changes beginning in January 2023 to be implemented in the 2023-2024 school year.

Superintendent Maggie Fehrman established a teacher task force to analyze CSD’s grading system and make recommendations for improvements to the grading system, practices and procedures, Fehrman said in her weekly newsletter on March 25.

“Some of the problems that need to be solved with our current grading practices include the need for transparency in our grading practices; the need for parents, students, and school leaders to have continuous and instant access to monitor student achievement and progress at all levels for all courses; and the need for our grading systems to be easily understood and explained,” Fehrman said in the newsletter. “Furthermore, in our most recent accreditation report, Cognia identified the effectiveness of grading practices and communication of grades as a growth area for our district. I believe that I am responsible for ensuring CSD has a grading system that is clear, easily understood, transparent, equitable, and helps students become leaders of their own learning.”

The equity in grading task force was charged with providing recommendations to Fehrman for a common district-wide grading scale. The task force has given their recommendations to the superintendent.

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