FREE Letter to Parents about Grading: 4-Point Scale vs. Traditional Percents

Once Marzano's The Art and Science of Teaching became the adopted frame-work for our teacher evaluations, everyone was making learning goals and scales, and trying to figure out how to apply them to grading for students. My Grading tab gives a 4-point scale that aligns to the traditional grading system based on 100%. Your administrators may have instructed you to use something similar. The exact percentage alignments aren't as important as understanding the meaning of each scale, and being able to communicate that meaning to parents and students. Everyone knows what an 'A' or a 'B' means; but very few will know what the scales mean. As a college student I was graded on a 4-point scale, but no one ever explained the difference between points; I just knew I should be between a 3.0 and a 4.0 to do well.

The following excerpts are from the parent letter I developed to explain these differences to parents. This letter is available FOR FREE in an editable two-page MS Word document format so you can adjust it to your own classroom grading routines. Visit Mrs. L's Leveled Learning Store to download your free copy of the Grading Guide for Parents. Many of my materials are free, and I offer a few sample pages of the grade level Math Assessments with Learning Goals and Scales for free in the "Preview", so you may find other helpful resources. I hope you find this guide to be a useful time-saver! 

If your school does not use an online system, you can scan and insert images of your progress report forms so parents know what to look for!