{"id":64916,"date":"2020-04-30T02:24:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T02:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-schools-adapt-grading-system-to-virtual-classrooms\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:29:09","slug":"montezuma-cortez-schools-adapt-grading-system-to-virtual-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-schools-adapt-grading-system-to-virtual-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez schools adapt grading system to virtual classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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File photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Schools in Montezuma County have faced a balancing act to make sure students remain on track while adjusting to online classrooms.<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 has released a \u201cpass\u201d or \u201cnot yet\u201d grading system, and Dolores and Mancos schools are solidifying grading processes.<\/p>\n

Lis Richard, superintendent of the Dolores School District Re-4A, said the situation will vary by student.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have engaged students and non-engaged students, so we will need to approach the grading piece carefully,\u201d she told The Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Mancos administrators and staff are working on the details but have emphasized at board meetings that students\u2019 social-emotional well-being is a top priority.<\/p>\n

The Cortez district detailed its plan in a letter posted on the district\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout school closures, teachers will continue to provide students with instruction that is designed to build upon the learning trajectory already established in the classroom,\u201d the letter<\/a> states.<\/p>\n

Many courses have changed formats, from science labs to cooking lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with most places around the country, it\u2019s been a challenge, but everybody\u2019s adjusting to it,\u201d Montezuma-Cortez High School Principal Eric Chandler told The Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The plan for virtual learning, the online letter says, focuses on three guiding principles: continuous instruction, access for all students and connectedness to the community.<\/p>\n

And the purpose of grading, it states, is to make sure students keep up with weekly lessons, monitor student progress, provide feedback to students and support struggling students.<\/p>\n

All students are all expected to take part in weekly assignments through Google Classroom and other virtual platforms.<\/p>\n

High school grades are entered into the online program PowerSchool, as they have been all year. Due dates are assigned to help keep students on track, but late work will be accepted without a penalty, the letter states.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a student was passing a course prior to the temporary online learning, semester grades will not drop below a D (a passing grade), and thus a student will continue to earn credit for the course,\u201d the letter says. \u201cStudents who were failing before the temporary online learning, will have the opportunity to complete necessary work to earn credit for the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special consideration will be taken for students who face online access issues or other challenges outside their control, according to administrators.<\/p>\n

Chandler said that although every institution is different, colleges have been supportive of the situation for prospective applicants or students.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody \u2013 including colleges \u2013 has been very good with extending deadlines and working around situations that weren\u2019t there in the past, working around barriers that weren\u2019t there in the past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At Montezuma-Cortez Middle School, teachers are using a system of \u201cpass\u201d or \u201cnot yet,\u201d Principal Kate Ott said in her own letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Teachers are inputting into PowerSchool one of three symbols: \u201ccollected, incomplete or missing.\u201d \u201cCollected\u201d means students submitted their work and passed the standard, \u201cincomplete\u201d means submitted work must be improved and resubmitted for a grade, and \u201cmissing\u201d means students did not submit the assignment.<\/p>\n

Ott\u2019s letter said teachers are expected to provide regular feedback to students to ensure everyone can receive a \u201cpass\u201d grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire M-CMS faculty is committed and diligently working to meet your child\u2019s academic and emotional news,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe know families are juggling a lot right now, and our M-CMS family wants to be there to support you as best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Administrators aim to keep students on track in new environment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,103,155,28,392,216],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-64916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-dolores-schools-re-4a","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-school-district-re-6","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88891,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64916\/revisions\/88891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64916"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=64916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}