Collingswood board reviews new Program of Studies and a shift in grading policy setting F floor at 50

Meredith, the districtcurriculum presenter, told the committee the nearly finalized 58-page Program of Studies is designed to be more user-friendly and keep a broad menu of course options available to students.

"In this 58 page document, the full menu, of course, offerings is included for our kids," Meredith said, noting the material includes a seven-year planning graphic, hyperlinked course charts and a middle-school/high-school roadmap designed to help families choose electives.

The draft adds about 10 and a half new classes on the high-school side — including civil engineering and architecture, AP language, journalism, creative writing and public speaking, digital photography, orchestra and strings and additional health and physical-education options — and restores some previously offered courses so students can indicate interest during counselor scheduling.

The presentation also introduced a grading-policy adjustment that would change how a failing grade is handled at the end of a term. "The range for an F is now a 50 to a 64," Meredith said, explaining that individual low marks will remain visible in the grade book but will be bumped to a 50 when the final report card is calculated.

Board members raised cautions about unintended incentives. "In some cases, it did wind up kind of being a numbers game," said S11, citing a district that later required an appeals process because students could meet a low standard without meaningful engagement. S11 described cases where the policy led some students with serious attendance problems to rely on automatic midrange scores.

Meredith said the district will monitor the change and use its MTSS and predictive data systems to identify at-risk students earlier and intervene: "We now have ... the branching mines MTSS platform that ... serves as an early warning system for attendance, disciplinary, academic." She added the district would consider phased approaches and monitoring periods and could revise the policy based on outcomes.

The committee discussed thresholds for low-enrollment electives (staff said roughly 12—614 students is the enrollment target for running elective sections) and the use of an every-other-year cadence to sustain under-enrolled but valuable courses. Meredith said required state and local graduation courses will be staffed and electives will depend on student interest and staffing capacity.

Next steps include final edits to the Program of Studies, a first read or vote at the regular board meeting, and ongoing monitoring of the grading change and course offerings.