In the midst of the pandemic during the 2020-21 school year Lyons Township HS adopted a new “Vision for Grading” for its 4000 students. Their principal, Jen Tyrell said in her Nov. 2021 communication two weeks ago, “The changes to our grading practices are being fully experienced by staff and students for the first time.” “Specifically, we anticipate administering a formal survey as part of our strategic planning process in January 2022.”
 
Many, many students and families are currently struggling a great deal with this new “Vision for Grading.” These families and many teachers do not want to wait indefinitely for a potential change or after “survey analysis” is complete in what could be late Jan/Feb/March or April. Changes must be made much sooner. Lyons Township students showed a 20+% decrease in test scores across ALL student populations for the 2020 school year. It is universally accepted that the learning losses from Covid were significant. This new grading system does not build stamina & help kids get back on track from the last few years of highly interrupted learning.
 
The new grading vision does NOT promote accountability. It does not allow homework, quizzes,  participation, attendance, or effort to be counted in students’ grades. Instead, students’ grades are made up entirely (100%) out of their summative assessments. These summative assessments can be retaken, and this creates a habitual cycle of retakes and is extremely difficult for teachers to implement. It is a game of summative retakes, no hard-due dates, and more retakes -which are not available to students in college and after they leave high school. This system does not help develop academic high school students nor does the lack accountability make for successful habits after high school in any arena.
 
Requests for the data which guided this new vision for grading have not been honored. The community has no hard evidence to support this “New Vision”. The risks to student’s success FAR OUTWEIGH any benefit one could conceive at this point. No other high schools in our area has such an extreme Policy for Grading.
 
Lastly, none of the Lyons Township feeder schools implement a grading system that does not allow for accountability and does not count effort, quizzes, and/or homework towards a student’s grade. There is no consistency from the elementary schools and middle schools to their high school vision.
 
In signing this petition, I believe that the Lyons Township BOE and Administration should
 
1.     Immediately repeal LT’s new Grading Vision and get back to proven methods of teaching/and assessment which include effort, accountability, organization, and daily homework and/or practice as teachers see fit.
 
2.     Immediately agree to a meeting with concerned parents about what LT’s Vision for Grading during the 2nd semester 2021 will look like.