The Role of Grades

Student grades are one source of information for families about their child's learning. Like all evaluation tools, they should be considered within the broader scope of a child's overall progress. In that framework, grades can be:

• A tool to evaluate student schoolwork.
• A means of communicating about a student’s performance and potential for further success.
• A source of motivation to students for continued learning and improvement.
• A means of organizing a lesson, a unit, or a semester in that grades mark transitions in a course and bring closure to it.
• A feedback mechanism to provide students with feedback on their own learning, clarifying for them what they understand, what they don’t understand, and where they can improve.
• Feedback to teachers on their students’ learning with information that can inform future teaching decisions

Grading Timelines

Families can expect student grades to be issued at the end of every trimester. Today, instead of waiting for mid-term reports or student-teacher conferences, parents can keep tabs on their children's progress and their problems by checking online.

Family Access / Skyward
Family Access, a real-time online system allowing parents to keep up with their children's work at school, is available in full at the high school, North Whidbey Middle School, and Oak Harbor Intermediate School.

This system is available to parents no matter if they are at home, on the road, or deployed halfway around the world. Family Access is secure, requiring parents to log in and provide a designated access code. There is one log-in name and access code for each member of the family, allowing parents access to all of their children in grades 6-12.

The system allows parents to:

• check absences and tardiness;
• see each student's schedule;
• learn how each class will be graded;
• check on assignments turned in, including scores and grades;
• access homework assignments and due dates;
• learn what assignments are missing.

In addition, parents can see the contact numbers and emergency numbers on file for their children.  

Family Access/Skyward System