Great Falls Public Schools announced this week that it is changing the grading structure for the second semester for high school students and the third trimester for middle school students.

All students will receive a Pass, P, or Fail, F, grade on their report cards and high school transcripts.

GFPS changing elementary grading for remainder of school year

In a letter to parents on April 16, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools Heather Hoyer wrote that “we know that we can’t recreate the experiences students get from face-to-face instruction delivered by talented and passionate educators. Great Falls Public Schools recognizes these constraints and is working to address concerns so that students and educators are held harmless of the effects of circumstances outside their control. While students and schools have a shared responsibility in distance learning, we believe that students should not be held accountable for their inability to get help, their lack of access to technology, or other circumstances outside of their control.”

PowerSchool will continue to show letter grades until final grades are placed on report cards, Hoyer wrote.

GFPS expects $2.38 million in federal funds for COVID-19 response

College level classes must follow the grading scales determined by the university responsible for the class, Hoyer wrote. Some of those are pass/fail, some are satisfactory/unsatisfactory, and some are letter grades. These differences will be reflected on the collegiate transcript, not the high school transcript, according to Hoyer.

A passing grade, P, indicates that students met the distance learning expectations and are proficient enough to move to the next level. Credit is earned but the grade does not affect the grade point average, Hoyer wrote.

A failing grade, F, indicates that students did not meet the distance learning expectations and that students are not proficient enough to move to the next level of learning, Hoyer wrote. Credit is not earned and an F does negatively impact the GPA.

“Unless a student fails a course, there will be no change to a student’s cumulative GPA. If a student fails a course needed to graduate, credit recovery opportunities will be made available, as is our past practice,” Hoyer wrote.

Class rank, for the purposes of scholarships and awards, was not impacted by COVID-19, Hoyer wrote, since it is calculated at the end of seven semesters.

“After careful consideration, the Great Falls Public Schools has decided that this revision in our grading practices is the most appropriate course of action to support our students, families. and staff during these challenging times. Once again, we do not take this decision lightly, but rather sincerely believe that the uncharted territory we are now forced to navigate requires us to rethink grading expectations designed for
more traditional models,” Hoyer wrote. “The journey of distance learning, on the scale it is now necessary, is challenging and unique to our students, families, and teachers who support them. As educators, we know that when our students attend courses in our classrooms, the rich experiences they have from hands-on work, peer learning opportunities and one-on-one help opportunities increase the rigor and relevance of their learning.”