Beginning in SY 2025-26, all high schools will participate in professional development to successfully implement a rolling gradebook starting in the 2026-27 school year. This will allow high schools to have adequate time for transition and successful implementation. A rolling gradebook determines final grades through a cumulative average of assignments from the full school year or semester, rather than an average of each quarter grade.

No changes. The current district weighting of 70% for summative assessments (major tests, projects) and 30% for formative assessments (quizzes, classwork) will continue for all secondary courses.

Graded homework assignments will continue to be included in the formative assessment category . Regular homework will be assigned in all secondary courses and will count for no more than 10% of the overall grade .

No changes.

The current requirement of a minimum of seven assignments per quarterwill remain in place.

For summative assessments, the maximum score a student can earn on a reassessment will be capped at 90% . This means if a student scores below 90% on a summative assessment, they will be eligible to reassess, with the highest score they can achieve on that reassessment capped at 90%.

In the adoption of Policy 2418, the School Board also voted to amend the grading scale used in FCPS. The "D-" letter grade will be eliminated. The following numerical ranges will now be used: 

• D+: 69-67
• D: 66-60
• F: 59-50

Effective communication is essential to create strong school-home partnerships and to increase family involvement to support student learning. Teachers will communicate how quarter and final grades are determined to students and parents/caregivers in writing at the beginning of each school year and at the beginning of each semester course. This is typically in the form of a class syllabus, and should include other relevant grading information such as reassessment and late work policies.

SIS ParentVUE and StudentVUE provide up-to-date access to student grades. Informal communication between teacher and parents/caregivers regarding grading shall be as varied and frequent as necessary to ensure ongoing collaboration. Informal reporting may take the form of conferences, mail, email, and phone conversations and should occur in the parent/caregiver’s correspondence language.

All high schoolteachers are required to use a rolling gradebook by school year 2026-27. The rolling gradebook provides students with an accurate understanding of their current progress within a course. Increased opportunities for students to show mastery is a primary benefit of a rolling gradebook, as well as the ability to provide accurate, real-time grade information. Teachers using rolling gradebooks need to meet requirements for the minimum number of graded assignments within a quarter and the maximum amount that a single assignment can count within the current quarter.

Middle school teachers will use either the quarterly gradebook or the rolling gradebook.  

For dual enrollment courses, FCPS grading policies may differ from the grading policies of the partner college or university, and high school and college grades may differ as a result. Teachers of dual enrollment courses will maintain two gradebooks, one for FCPS and one for the partner college or university, and the students will receive a final grade for FCPS and a final grade for the college or university on each transcript.

All grades entered into the gradebook will relate directly to the standards listed in the Program of Studies or other designated curriculum and should reflect a student’s mastery of content or skills.

FCPS utilizes a uniform category weighting design in all of its secondary classes. These categories are defined below.

Category	Definition	Weight	Examples of category assignments*
Summative (Product)	Culminating assessment that measures mastery of standards or skills. Assignments in this category are eligible for reassessment.	70%	Projects, performance assessments, major writing assignments, presentations, labs, tests
Formative (Process)	Assessments that provide students with feedback towards mastery of standards or skills, and smaller assignments that allow students to practice content. They allow students to understand areas to target for improvement while learning is in progress prior to summative assessment. Graded homework shall be recognized within the course as part of the student’s formative grade and will count no more than 10% of the overall grade. Not all assigned homework is required to be graded. Principals, in coordination with their instructional leadership staff, may choose to create a separate homework category within the gradebook at the school, department, or team level, so long as the homework category is no more than 10%, and the homework and formative categories add up to 30%.	30%	Quizzes, classwork, graded homework, graded exit tickets

* Examples in this column are not exhaustive, and some could be included in either category, depending on their use. For instance, a lab assignment could be used as a summative assessment or a formative assessment, depending on its use.

Assessment design for the school year must be balanced and include a mix of assessment types (e.g., projects, papers, presentations, tests, etc.) where teachers design a variety of formats that can give students choice to express their learning.

Scaffolds, supports, and accommodations should be a routine part of instruction and assessment practices to ensure that students with disabilities and multilingual learners can accurately demonstrate their learning. See Section V. for more information and assessing and grading for special populations.

Students should receive feedback on formative assessments prior to any summative assessment on the same skills or standards.

Divisionwide common assessments are not required to be graded. If they are graded, they may be included in either the formative or summative category, depending on how they are used within the course. If used in the summative category, common assessments must allow for reassessment.

Teachers are required to enter a minimum of seven grades into the gradebook over the course of each quarter. These should be a combination of grades in the summative and formative categories each quarter. Collaborative teams are required to set the grading design so that no one assignment/assessment counts for more than 35% within a quarter. Grading designs that have two or more equally weighted summative assignments per quarter will meet these requirements. This will ensure that no one assignment has a disproportionate impact on the quarter grade.

Teachers using a rolling gradebook may utilize some limited flexibility within their design around quarter deadlines. For example, if within the learning design of a unit, the summative assessment is better scheduled in the first week of the next quarter, a teacher may use their discretion to move it to that quarter since they are on a rolling gradebook. Teachers should discuss any variations with quarter requirements with their administrator when utilizing this flexibility.

Teachers may enter in ungraded assignments, such as ungraded homework or exit tickets, as an additional layer of communication of student progress, but these do not count toward the seven minimum required assignments.

1. Regular homework will be assigned as a part of each secondary course. Homework shall be included within the course grade as part of the student’s formative grade and will count no more than 10% of the course grade.
2. Homework should serve a positive purpose for learning and support the instructional program. Homework should be a vehicle through which students practice, apply, and/or elaborate on content that they are currently learning.
3. Homework assignments should be relevant to content being studied with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity. Homework for advanced learners should focus on understanding content in greater depth and complexity and not on increased time commitments.
4. Homework may be graded for completion and should be assessed for mastery only when the content has been introduced and practiced within class.
5. Not all homework is required to be graded. In general, homework across disciplines should not exceed 1.5 hours at the middle school level per day, and 2 hours per day at the high school level.
6. To ensure that student homework falls within FCPS regulations, middle school teachers should plan for homework not to exceed 25 minutes per class block, and high school teachers should plan for homework not to exceed 30 minutes per class block. Reading assignments are considered part of the homework load. Long-term projects may require additional time. Teachers should adjust daily homework assignments accordingly.

Students should experience frequent and ongoing assessment and feedback throughout each quarter. Students should receive continual feedback on the quality of work as it relates to the course objectives.  

Assignments should be assessed and/or graded, returned, and reviewed promptly with the student. Teachers are expected to grade each assignment and post grades to the gradebook within seven school days after the due date with the understanding that major projects/papers may require additional time to ensure quality feedback.  If more time is required to provide feedback, teachers will notify students in advance of the project due date.

Grades recorded in the gradebook may be numbers, percentages, or letters.  

Letter grades should only be utilized for assignments and assessments that are designed using defined levels of proficiency that are aligned to rubrics (e.g., performance-based assessments, projects, essays, assignments utilizing IB rubrics, etc.).

Letter grades should not be used for assignments and assessments that are designed and/or scored to show a percentage or number of points out of total points possible. Grade ranges, including those with pluses and minuses, provide clarity around levels of proficiency when designing rubrics for assessments utilizing letter grades.

Letter grades entered into the SIS gradebook convert to the highest numerical percentage of the letter grade based on the FCPS grading scale. Because of this SIS feature, an “F” letter grade should not be used for a student who did not make a reasonable attempt at the assignment or did not show evidence of meeting criteria for an “F” based on a rubric. Instead, that student should receive either a zero or a 50%.

Teachers will separate achievement grades from work habit grades. This helps show academic versus social-emotional or behavioral learning. Teachers will communicate student’s attendance, effort, attitude or other behaviors to parents/caregivers through report card comments or other means that do not include grades.

Students will not be given extra credit or grades for activities such as bringing in classroom materials, providing parent/caregiver signatures, participating in fundraising/charitable events, or participating in contests or non-curricular activities.

For summative assessments, one new opportunity to demonstrate proficiency up to 90% shall be provided to any student who completes corrective action determined by the collaborative team. The student’s highest score up to 90% shall be entered into the gradebook. Students who receive a 90% or above on an initial assessment are not eligible for reassessment.

Teacher teams will determine all guidelines for reassessment and communicate them through the course syllabus. Reassessments are most effective when they focus on the skills, standards, or areas of the assessment that need improvement. Reassessments may take the form of an alternate version of the original assessment (or a smaller assessment that focuses on the areas that a student needs to reassess), completion of test corrections, oral reassessments or conferences, revision of work, or other similar opportunities.

Grade replacement policies that allow later assessments to replace the scores of earlier assessments may be used in lieu of reassessment as defined in this section.

Assignments in the formative category are not eligible for reassessment.

In both rolling and quarterly gradebooks, students must be allowed to reassess summative assessments that occur at the end of a quarter.

Midterms and final exams are not eligible for retakes.

1. Late work will be accepted to document learning/mastery.  Collaborative teams must set reasonable guidelines for accepting late work to encourage work completion by their students. If a student misses an assignment, a placeholder (such as M for missed, I for incomplete, etc.) should be entered into the gradebook.  
2. Teams are not required to apply a penalty when work is turned in after the due date. However, collaborative teams may choose to apply a penalty when work is turned in late.
3. For summative assessments, late work will be accepted with a maximum penalty of 10% if submitted within two weeks after the due date. Teams may also choose to accept assignments beyond the minimum two-week window in accordance with the reasonable late work policy set by the school or team.  
4. For summative assessments, if a student has been given multiple opportunities to complete work and has not done so, and parent/caregiver contact has been made for summative assessments, quizzes, or tests (tasks weighted more than 10%), a zero may be entered in the gradebook in accordance with the reasonable late work policy established by the school or teacher teams.
5. For formative assessments, teams may also choose to accept assignments submitted past the due date and may (but are not required to) set a penalty as determined by the team. A zero may be entered in the gradebook for formative assignments that are submitted late.
6. Students are fully responsible for completing any missed assignments.  Each day of absence affords at least one school day of makeup work opportunity. The period of time allowed to make up work may be extended at the discretion of the teacher/team, especially in cases of long-term excused absences.
7. Make-up work for excused absences is graded and recorded in the grade book by teachers without penalty to students.  For an approved prearranged absence, a student may request assignments in advance of the absence. Teachers will provide regular or alternative assignments in advance of the absence, when feasible. Following any absence, including a prearranged absence, students should make arrangements with individual teachers for makeup work.

For assignments or assessments where a student made a reasonable attempt to show evidence of their learning, the minimum score that a student can receive is a 50%. For assignments or assessments that a student did not attempt, a student can receive a zero. Teachers should follow all related late work policies prior to assigning a zero. A “reasonable attempt” occurs when a student submits an assignment with some evidence that an attempt was made to demonstrate knowledge.

School staff should work with parents/caregivers to provide tiered support for students who are not engaging in their learning. Teachers should work with students throughout the year to ensure academic support, especially in situations where a student has experienced significant difficulties in demonstrating learning.

For students who are in danger of failing a course because they have not completed prior summative assessments, opportunities must be given during the fourth quarter to complete summative assessments from previous quarters to demonstrate minimum course proficiency. Additionally, close examination of trends in mastery of learning is required to be considered when a student is in danger of failing the course.

Summer learning programs, such as Credit Recovery Academy or summer Online Campus courses, may have adjusted grading requirements due to their shortened format. These adjustments will be approved by the Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services and will be communicated to students and parents/caregivers as part of the registration process.

This grading scale is used in all FCPS middle and high school courses.

Each quarter, students will receive a letter grade to designate the level of achievement up to that point in time. Within a rolling gradebook, a quarter grade provides accurate, up-to-date information on the student’s cumulative course performance to that point. Within a quarterly gradebook, a quarter grade provides information on the student’s performance during that individual quarter. The quarter grade is determined by using the procedure outlined in the teacher’s grading design.

All grades reflect the teacher’s professional judgment of student achievement. Teachers are responsible for justifying their grades whenever the need exists.

Quarter grades awarded to students will be A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, or F and may be based on trends in and mastery of learning rather than based solely on numerical averaging of all grades earned during the quarter.

For teachers using a quarterly gradebook, the final quarter average for students who are below a 50% must be converted to a 50% to reduce the disproportionality of a zero on a student’s final mark.

If numerical averaging methodology is used, grades are to be rounded to the next whole number when equal to 0.5 or greater.

The report card provides opportunities for students and families to receive feedback on student work habits and skill development.

Teachers will provide a “Work Habits” mark each quarter for each student. This scale provides feedback on students’ time management, organization, assignment completion, and overall effort.

Work Habits Comments

The report card also provides descriptive comments that staff can share around student work habits. For each comment option, there is a “skill proficiency” option and a “skill development” option. Skill proficiency options provide information for students and families around skills that students are demonstrating consistently. Skill development options provide information for students and families around skills that students are still working to demonstrate consistently.

Teachers will provide skill proficiency and skill development comments from the division comment bank on an as-needed basis as determined by the classroom teacher. Teachers can provide balanced feedback for students and parents/caregivers by providing comments from both categories for an individual student.

Teachers should consider what other means of communication (e.g., phone call, conference, etc.) might be beneficial before sharing student feedback on the report card. Additionally, teachers should consider whether other means of communication might be more appropriate than sharing student feedback on the report card. For students who need additional support, teachers should work with counselors, administrators, collaborative teams, and other staff to consider what interventions would be most supportive. Report card comments are not retained on a student’s transcript.

Comment Bank

The current approved comment bank is below.

Additional Comment

Receives modified instruction

A final examination or appropriate culminating activity will be given in all high school courses and must be based on the standards listed in the Program of Studies or other designated curriculum. The grade for the final examination or activity may count a maximum of 20% of the final course grade if the exam addresses the entire course syllabus. Semester final exams may count a maximum of 20% of the course grade.

Students are to be afforded an opportunity prior to the close of school to discuss examination results and final grades with their teachers. A makeup final examination or activity is permitted only in the case of a student whose absence is excused. A student whose absence from the final examination or activity is unexcused will receive an F for that examination. Exceptions to this must be approved by the principal. Midterms and final exams are not eligible for retakes. Principals shall keep all final examination papers for one year.

The Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia (8 VAC 20-131) allows high schools to consider the student’s end-of-course Standards of Learning (SOL) test score in determining the student’s final course grade.  However, no student who has failed an end-of-course SOL test but passed the related course shall be prevented from taking any other course in a content area and from taking the applicable end-of-course SOL test. This applies to high school courses taught in middle school. Teachers must ensure that grading practices do not disadvantage students who are not permitted to take SOL assessments or choose not to take the assessment.  When offering a benefit to students meeting SOL test performance expectations, an equivalent alternative opportunity should be offered for students who are not taking the SOL test.

Final grades awarded to students will be A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, or F.  Students may be awarded a higher grade based on trends in and mastery of learning. If numerical averaging methodology is used, grades are to be rounded to the next whole number when equal to 0.5 or greater. Close examination of trends in mastery of learning is required to be considered when a student is in danger of failing the course. When a student transfers and has a new teacher of record, that teacher assigns the final course grade and will consult, if possible, with the former teacher(s) in arriving at that mark. Principals shall keep all teachers’ gradebooks and grading records for the current year plus five years.

For quarterly gradebooks, converting quarter and final exam grades to quality points and averaging when calculating a student’s final course grade for all students is allowed at the teacher’s discretion and is required to be considered in high school credit-bearing courses when a student is in danger of failing the course. Quality points are awarded as follows:

Incomplete

While a student should receive a grade whenever possible, there are times when an “Incomplete” (I) grade is appropriate. Teachers may assign incompletes when students are unable to complete major components of the quarter grade. If a student receives an “I,” they must adhere to the teacher’s plan to complete missing assignments. If this is not possible, the teacher will convert the “I” to a letter grade at that point.  An incomplete may not be given as a final grade. It is expected that students will make up incomplete grades by the end of the next grading period and should work with the teacher(s) to create a plan. High school seniors cannot receive incompletes at the end of the seventh semester due to the required computation of grade point averages (GPA).

A student will be awarded an “Incomplete” as a grade for driver’s education if they earn a passing grade in the classroom driver’s education course but do not attend the parent/teen safe driver’s evening program. This grade of “Incomplete” may remain as a final grade but will not impact the GPA.

No Mark

While a student should receive a grade whenever possible, there are times when a “No Mark” (NM) grade is appropriate.  With principal approval, teachers may assign “No Mark” when the teacher was unable to assess the student and provide a grade due to short time of enrollment or prolonged absence.

The No Mark (NM) grade may be used with principal approval as a senior     semester grade or end of year grade to indicate the student has been unable to complete coursework. The NM can remain on the report card and transcript unlike the incomplete. Students shall be given opportunities to make up the work by the end of the next grading period; however, if this is not possible, the NM grade will remain on the transcript. A No Mark does not average into a student’s GPA.

Pass/Fail

Students in secondary classes may choose to take one high school elective credit per year to be marked pass-fail. Classes graded this way receive either a Pass (P) or Fail (F) grade instead of a letter grade. See Regulation 2436, Optional Pass-Fail Grading for High School Courses for specific rules and procedures.

Audit

In special circumstances, high school students (grade 9-12) may be allowed to attend one course without receiving credit for it. The audit application ( IS-680 Request for Audit Status ) must be completed, submitted, and approved prior to the beginning of the course. Students who audit a course must meet all attendance requirements and strive toward completion of course standards, benchmarks, and indicators. Students who audit a course will not be allowed to take associated SOL tests while auditing the course, and the audit course will not be applied toward verified credit.

Students may audit a course one year and then take it for credit the next year.

Students may not change from audit status to credit during the school year with the exception of MLs enrolled in U.S. schools less than 1 year (Recently Arrived MLs).

Recently arrived MLs (ELP levels 1-4) in 9-12 who are enrolled in a high school credit bearing class may participate with an audit status. The audit status should be reviewed each marking period, at a minimum, with full consideration of removing the audit status to limit barriers to student progress towards graduation. At any time an audit status may be changed for a recently arrived ML to credit status at the request of the teacher. Audit status should be used judiciously in     consideration of the student’s post secondary goals, the impact it will have on the student’s parallel advancement with cohort members, the student’s length of time in U.S. schools, and the student’s English language proficiency level.

When recently arrived MLs transfer during the school year and are being considered for enrollment in a class with an audit status, the school counselor should conduct a transcript review to confirm that the enrollment is appropriate and in alignment with the student’s graduation timeline. Newly enrolled multilingual learners who demonstrate understanding of the standards should be given the opportunity to earn credit for the course.

Report cards are issued four times a year at nine-week intervals to communicate student academic achievement to date based on curriculum objectives. Report cards are posted to SIS StudentVUE and ParentVUE. A formal report will be mailed to the student’s address of record unless parents/caregivers opt out of receiving a mailed formal report.

No student should fail a subject during any nine-week period without the teacher making contact with the parent/caregiver via written correspondence or email, phone call, or conference.  Contact should be timely and in the family’s correspondence language.

Instruction and Assessment

Instruction for students with disabilities should align with FCPS Planning and Pacing Guides, which incorporates the Standards of Learning (SOL), and the goals and objectives defined in a student’s IEP or 504 Plan. A small percentage of students access a highly modified curriculum which is guided by the Virginia Essentialized Standards of learning (VESOL). In FCPS this is called an Adapted Curriculum.

Accommodations and modifications to instruction and assessments are provided based on student needs as defined by the student’s IEP or 504 Plan. Appropriate accommodations and/or alternative assessments increase equitable access to instruction and assessment and are used to ensure that evaluations are true measures of what a student with disabilities knows, understands, and is able to do. Scaffolds, supports, and accommodations should be a routine part of instruction and assessment practices. Accommodations may include changes to the process, the response format, or the task itself with a goal of making the assessment accessible for students with disabilities. Additionally, accommodations used to access and demonstrate grade-level expectations should not not impact the assigned grade (i.e., lower a student grade).

Grading

Grades for students with disabilities must reflect achievement of grade-level expectations as determined by the general curriculum and individual student needs, as documented within the student’s IEP or 504 Plan.

Modified grading may be used for students receiving modified instruction and assessments as outlined in their IEP.

Regular collaboration and communication among special education teachers, case managers, content teachers, teams, and parents/caregivers ensure that all groups are knowledgeable of the student’s content achievement and progress toward IEP goals.

Reporting

All students, including those with disabilities with an IEP or 504 Plan, receive the standard grade level report card when reporting grades.

Students, including those with disabilities with an IEP or 504 Plan, receive the appropriate grade level interim report, as appropriate.

Quarterly Progress Reports, provided at the same time as the standard grade-level reporting, document progress toward IEP goals and objectives.

School divisions must provide equal access and opportunities for multilingual learners (MLs), ELP levels 1-4, to meaningfully participate in the core curriculum. MLs must learn content while simultaneously learning a new language. Thus, MLs require deliberate scaffolds and targeted English language development instruction to support their understanding and use of emerging language as they engage in grade-level content.

To make classroom instruction comprehensible, grade-level content instruction is supported by using sheltered instruction strategies. MLs require intentional language supports aligned to their English language proficiency level to ensure content assessments measure content understandings rather than English language proficiency. These supports are necessary components of instruction, assessment, and grading practices and are to be integrated in order to more accurately evaluate student learning.

Accommodations and/or alternative assessments increase equitable access to instruction and assessment and are used to ensure that evaluations are true measures of what a multilingual learner knows, understands, and is able to do. Scaffolds, supports, and accommodations should be a routine part of instruction and assessment practices. Accommodations may include changes to the process, the response format, or the task itself with a goal of making the assessment accessible for multilingual learners. Accommodations used to access and demonstrate grade-level expectations do not impact the assigned grade.

If it appears that an ML will not receive a passing grade during any marking period, the parents/caregivers must be notified in their preferred correspondence language of the student’s specific academic needs, and supports should be put in place to mitigate any barriers to achievement.

Because the focus of English language development courses is to gain progress towards proficiency, students should be assessed in relation to their individual language learning goals. ELD may be taken pass/fail per Regulation 2436, Optional Pass/Fail Grading for High School Courses .

Regular collaboration and communication among ESOL teachers, content teachers, teams, and parents/caregivers ensure that all groups are knowledgeable of the student’s content achievement, language development goals and progress towards those goals.

ML students are entitled to instruction in the core curriculum (e.g., reading/language arts, math, science, and social studies). Per federal guidance, MLs must be provided full access to the grade-appropriate core curriculum while using appropriate language scaffolds and support in the core instruction so that ML students can participate meaningfully as they acquire English. MLs should be placed in age-appropriate grade levels so that they have meaningful access to the grade-level curricula and an equal opportunity to graduate.

At the end of each grading period, teachers review and verify marks, submitting corrections to the Student Information Assistant (SIA).

In the event the teacher is unavailable, the principal or designee, together with a staff member as appropriate (department chair, lead teacher, etc.) reviews and verifies marks and submits corrections to the Student Information Assistant (SIA).

1. Parents/caregivers or students who believe that an assigned mark is incorrect shall first contact the teacher and indicate the reasons for the requested change.
2. If the teacher agrees that a change is warranted, a Marks Change form is submitted to the SIA and is signed by the teacher and the principal or designee.
3. Once the teacher affirms the grade, an appeal of the teacher’s decision requires a conference with an administrator.
4. If the teacher disagrees with an administrator’s decision to change a mark, the teacher should meet with the principal to discuss the reasons for the decision.
5. Any further appeal by a parent/caregiver or student must be submitted in writing to the principal who is the final determiner.
6. Every effort should be made to address the request to change a mark with the teacher. In the event the teacher is unavailable, the principal or designee, in consultation with a department chair, lead teacher, as appropriate, reviews the request and, if a change is warranted, submits a Marks Change form (see form IT-4) to the SIA.
7. The principal may either decline or approve a mark change in accordance with this regulation.
8. Marks changes should be processed within ten school days of a change authorization and should be confirmed with the parent/caregiver in their correspondence language and teacher by telephone or in writing.
9. No staff member who is related to a student may approve or make a change in that student’s academic cumulative record and should defer their role to the principal.  In the case where the principal is related, the principal should defer to the region assistant superintendent.

Regulation 2462, Grade Point Average and Class Rank establishes procedures for determining a student’s Grade Point Average (GPA).