District 102 staff recommended a targeted pilot of new grading and reporting practices at Park Junior High at the June 12 board meeting, proposing a hybrid model that preserves standards‑based summative feedback while giving students and parents more frequent experience with percentage and letter grades.

The grading committee said the pilot aims to achieve five outcomes: provide students some experience with percentages and letter grades before high school; keep the permanent record focused on mastery; avoid double grading for teachers; align retake and assessment practices with Lyons Township High School where possible; and improve the clarity of reporting for families.

Under the committee’s proposal, most day‑to‑day coursework (homework, quizzes, class assignments used for practice) would be entered into the grade book as points and would display as percentages and letter grades to families. Summative, standards‑aligned assessments that measure end‑of‑course outcomes would be reported as proficiency ratings on a 1–4 scale (with an additional recommended 2+ notation). Skills for Success (SEL/work habits) would remain a standards‑based 1–4 rating. The committee also proposed a new, separate “work completion” metric reported as a percentage so parents can see to what degree students complete assigned work.

The committee said the approach is a compromise intended to give parents a familiar letter‑grade summary while preserving standards‑based, descriptive reporting for mastery. It acknowledged technical limits within PowerSchool that make it difficult to present both systems without extra teacher workload; the committee recommended a pilot and suggested the district explore longer‑term grading‑display tools or plugins to simplify teacher workflows.

Implementation proposed: a fall pilot with volunteer teachers and families in selected Park classes; classroom feedback gathered after a quarter; expansion to the entire junior high second semester if pilot results warrant; and broad stakeholder surveys and parent outreach events before final adoption. The committee recommended preserving current retake practices and adding a “NC” (non‑compliant) code to distinguish lack of work completion from lack of mastery.

Board members and parents raised questions at the meeting about complexity, teacher workload, PowerSchool display limitations and transitions for students who transfer mid‑year. Several public commenters strongly opposed keeping standards‑based grading as the primary measure for mastery and urged full alignment to Lyons Township High School reporting.

Ending: The committee will seek volunteer teachers to run the pilot at Park in the fall, gather early indicators after a quarter, and return implementation data and recommendations to the board before any permanent change is adopted.