BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

St. Lawrence County schools may take a regional approach to how it grades students for the remainder of the school year as the future remains uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier on Monday, April 6 announced all schools and non-essential businesses must remain closed until April 29.

School officials are discussing how to grade and assess students as remote learning has taken over traditional classroom teaching.

Some schools have decided, at least for now, not to grade work or assess student proficiency.

“This certainly has been a topic of discussion,” Norwood-Norfolk Central Superintendent Jamie Cruikshank said in an email to North Country This Week. He said there were plans to meet as an administrative team and discuss how to handle grading.

“We've also surveyed our HS teachers to get their opinions. I also know that many of our schools in the region want to take a regional approach on this.

More answers should come in the days and weeks to follow.

“A decision such as this has many facets and cannot be rushed,” Cruikshank said.

Ogdensburg Free Academy

“I can tell you that the talks centered around the evaluation of student work are ongoing and will be discussed next week with the other chiefs,” said OFA Superintendent Kevin Kendall. “The decision will be impacted by a number of issues, like the length of further closure, as well as the decision regarding NYS Regents Exams. As you know, this is a fluid process and in order to make the appropriate decision, we need to know more information from the state.”

Potsdam Central

At Potsdam Central, the third quarter ended April 3.

“At this time, we are not providing grades on assignments for the purpose of having them contribute to a student's overall average,” PCS Middle School Principal Dan Cook said in an email to parents. “However, we will be evaluating this as we continue to find out more information about this school closure. Even though we are not using these assignments to calculate an average, it is important and not optional for your children to complete these assignments. We will be moving into new topics this week and it is important for teachers to be able to assess the knowledge that students are gaining so they can properly support them.”

Massena Central

“Since the start of the school closure on March 16, our district teachers have been providing daily instruction through remote learning via the Chromebooks we distributed to our students,” said MCS Superintendent Pat Brady.

Students are primarily using Google Classroom and Screencastify for lessons and resources. Initially, Brady said, the instruction was to reinforce previously learned concepts and to maintain skills.

“However, as the closing has been extended, we are moving on to introducing new information. To date, assessing student work has largely been feedback provided by the teachers through Googleclassroom except for some high school courses that offer college credit where the college expects a grade to be provided,” he said.

District officials are still in the process of determining third and fourth quarter grades.

“We have solicited input from staff on this issue and we have scheduled meetings with our administrators over the next couple of days to make a determination. Factors to consider include the issue of equity as despite our best efforts, there remains a small minority of students who do not have access to the internet,” he said.

Canton Central

Canton Central Superintendent Ronald P. Burke said the expectation is that all children participate in learning opportunities presented to the extent possible.

“We are asking all families to evaluate their own situation and partner with your child’s teacher to the extent practicable. We will provide instructional materials and we will check in with your child to provide every possible opportunity for continued learning and growth,” Burke said in the Facebook post.

For the remote instruction, CCS staff is working on providing PK-6 students with 90 minutes of instructional materials per day. Students in grades 7-12 are to receive 120 minutes of instructional materials per day. At least through April 15, the focus of the remote learning will be supplemental instruction which includes review and enrichment.

“As our nation faces this health crisis, Canton Central School recognizes the immense pressure and anxiety that many of our families face. In households throughout our community, the priority is health and security. Understanding this reality, we have not been willing to add more stress by placing unrealistic instructional expectations on our students or on our families,” he said.

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