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In this photo taken in 2010, Scappoose High sophomore Candice Thompson works to determine the area of a parallelogram, one of about 20 key skills she must master to pass her math class. Scappoose High was an early adopter of proficiency-based education, which emphasizes demonstrating skills over homework and class participation. All Oregon schools are having to move their grading in that direction this year.

(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian/2010)

Starting this term, every public school student in Oregon is

Turning everything in neat and on time, bringing back signed forms and racking up extra credit won't boost grades. Turning assignments in late, skipping homework and talking during class won't hurt, as long as the student can demonstrate the key skills and knowledge covered in the course.

Get a detailed look at new grading policies in many large metro districts

In reality, it won't always work that way, especially not in this first year that,

But educators agree it's causing emotional discussions, big policy changes and a huge culture shift in schools.

And almost everywhere, teachers and principals are wrestling with the question of how to keep students motivated and practiced at meeting deadlines if late work doesn't get docked.

"Turning in your work late is really a bad habit, no matter who you are or what you do," said Amy Jackson, curriculum director for Reynolds schools, who nonetheless strongly supports moving to the new approach.

"The idea, the goal, is that students and parents deserve an accurate picture of where that student is academically," said Matt Casteel, a former Beaverton principal promoted two weeks ago to the new position of administrator for grading and reporting.

Grading

How a sampling of large metro-area districts will determine middle and high school grades this year.

Most elementary school report cards won't change because most have long graded students on whether they exceed, meet or nearly meet academic expectations in each subject and separately reported demonstrate desired behaviors such as completing homework and trying hard.

Portland:

Students will be graded only on demonstrated mastery of academic standards, with behavior marks reported separately, according to Melissa Goff, executive director of teaching and learning. Those will result in an overall proficiency grade or letter grade. Goff did not answer questions about whether Portland teachers will dock points for late assignments. It appears most teachers retain that latitude.

Beaverton:

Students will be graded only on academic achievement with behavior noted separately in most cases. No edicts prohibit late work and other behavior from affecting the academic grade. Behavior is rately separately each term; teachers can factor that into the overall grade but generally don't.

Hillsboro:

Teachers were required, starting last year, to grade only on demonstrated achievement of academic standards covered in each course. Behavior is noted in the comment section of report cards. Teachers aren't prohibited from taking points off assignments purely for being late if they can make the case that on-time completion was an academic skill, not a behavior. Course grades are A to F.

Tigard-Tualatin:

District officials mistakenly got the impression that they could delay switching until next year because top leaders are new. Informing teachers and planning will start soon.

Sherwood:

Grades will reflect academic mastery only; behavior will be addressed in the comments section. Course grades are A to F. Homework cannot count toward grades unless it is corrected and students receive feedback. Teachers are encouraged, but not required, to let students retake tests. Teachers have no firm line on whether they must accept late work or can dock points for lateness.

Forest Grove:

The district has taken proficiency grading further than any other metro district. Students can turn in work and retake tests until the final day of the grading period and get full credit for the level of proficiency they demonstrate. Behavior, including turning in work on time, is considered separately and counts toward a maximum of 10 percent of overall grade. Students must demonstrate minimum proficiency on every academic standard in a course to pass.

Lake Oswego:

It is standard practice to not include behavior in grades, said spokeswoman Nancy Duin. A committee of teachers and other employees will determine soon whether grading changes are needed to comply with the new rules.

Reynolds:

In theory, schools will switch this year to grading students exclusively on proficiency, with behaviors marked in report card comments section. In practice, some schools and teachers will only partly make the switch, with no firm guidelines on docking points for late work.

"Even if I turn it in late, someone needs to tell me whether it is good or not," he said. "But are there educators out that who still believe that behavior and turning things in on time need to be pulled into the final grade? It's a real struggle. Are we unanimious about it? Obviously not."

Parents and some students are more attached to traditional A through F grades based on every test score, quiz result and homework score than most teachers are, Casteel said. "There is a whole lot of emotion and politics we have to work through."

The requirement that all schools switch to grading students on academics grew out of a

. Lead sponsor Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, said he intended it merely to allow -- not require -- districts to go whole-hog into grading students by what they know and can do, not how many hours they spend in class. No one testified against the bill or on its potential impact on school grading systems.

But

t the student's grade level and; be based on the student's progress toward becoming proficient in a continuum of knowledge and skills."

By the time a committee of educators and state Department of Education staff wrote the rules to put the law into operation, the rule said every course needed an only-academics, no-behavior grade starting this fall.

The rule will have little effect on elementary schools, which generally report academic performance and behavior separately already.

while others are just starting and won't get there this year.

Forest Grove started six years ago and has become hard-core. No assignment can be docked points for lateness as long as it's turned in by the last day of the quarter, and any quiz or test can be retaken for a better grade throughout the term. Behavior, including meeting deadlines, can count for no more than 10 percent of the course grade.

The idea is to make grading more rigorous and push students to learn more, not to go easy on those who skip homework or score low on tests, said

Sure, students can get more time and extra chances. But if they fail to demonstrate mastery of even a single academic standard covered in the course, and most cover eight to 12 standards a semester, they fail the course. So every student needs to show they've learned every concept.

Forest Grove High, then its middle school, made the switch because they noticed that lots of students who earned B averages or better in high school scored below average on the ACT or SAT and landed in remedial classes when they got to college. They'd somehow passed their classes with flying colors -- but not mastered the key content.

"They were behaving, turning work in on time, making nice color brochures -- and those behaviors offset the lack of true knowledge and skills a student attained," O'Neill says. That no longer happens.

"They have multiple opportunities to redo their work and show improvement, but we have upped the rigor significantly."

Portland, Tigard-Tualatin and Reynolds are at the other end of the spectrum. Most of their schools and teachers are just starting to talk about the switch. Academics-only grading will be a work in progress, perhaps barely in progress, in many schools and classrooms, even by the end of the year, officials said.

is ahead of the pack, Portland officials said. The school's Japanese, Spanish and science teachers no longer issue letter grades or dock points for late work. If a student is chronically late with assignments, teachers can meet with the student or parent, set targets or address it in other ways. Course grades reflect the student's proficiency in the language or in science.

But for most Mount Tabor teachers, that discussion is just beginning this fall, Principal Robi Osborn said.

"If you are trying to be pure about academic proficiency, the late-work conversation is a separate conversation. We are already having really meaty discussions about how is that all going to work. How are we still going to teach kids about deadlines and personal responsibility?"

Amy Wood, a middle school science and math teacher at

said her colleagues are unsure how they'll comply with the law and were told they don't have to this year. Because she personally thinks it's the right way to go, giving students and parents more accurate information, she already separates academic performance from effort on weekly reports she send home.

"My philosophy has been that it's good to give parents information about whether their child is working hard and turning in work, but academically, they need to know, really, where their child is," Wood said.

Hillsboro's system is well-developed. The district

. Still, teachers have latitude to dock points for late work.

"It would depend on whether being on time with the assignment was considered an academic behavior or not," said Assistant Superintendent Steve Larson. "That is where the teacher's decision-making has to come in."

The Oregon Department of Education is taking a similar stance, with few bright lines on whether any approach breaks the rule.

The rule says students must receive an academic achievement-only grade in each course that is not based on any behavior. They can receive, but don't have to, a separate grade on behavior, and that grade can affect the overall grade.

"The biggest challenge for everybody is around what does behavior mean," said

"We can't define it down to the level everybody wants."

"Is late work a behavior? Or isn't it? And if you choose to say it isn't a behavior, what is late? Before the bell rang? 30 seconds after the bell rang? By the end of the week? By the end of the term? The district and/or the teacher have the right to make a decision as to whether or not that is behavior and how it would be counted. We cannot police that."

Some schools grade students on how they dress for P.E. or whether they bring materials to class, dock them 10 percent for every day an assignment is late and award significant points for how colorful and attractive science posters are.

Saxton said it would violate the spirit of the rules for schools like those not to change.

"What I would say is they would have a really hard time making the case that it's an academic standard," he said. "What do I know that this student knows? They have to issue a grade on that, purely on that."

-- Betsy Hammond

betsyhammond@oregonian.com