Hinsdale High School District 86
Among other business March 11, board members:
• listened to a presentation from members of the strategic plan team examining student growth and achievement on developing a common grading scale in the district. Among the items advanced was eliminating “zeros” out of concerns that they promote inaccuracies and misconceptions about student understanding. Students would instead be assessed a failing grade for not doing work, but encouraged to persist with coursework after an assignment is missed to reinforce that the penalty for not doing work should always be doing the work. The teams stressed that grades should communicate a level of achievement, not a level of responsibility.
• heard a preliminary staffing recommendation for the 2021-22 school year to keep the number of staff flat. The report also included the framework used to determine how many sections of a course will run, as well as the courses that will not run during a given school year. Some classes at Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South will be stacked, meaning two or more similar or complementary classes are combined into a single course with an enrollment of less than 20 students. Classes that run only at Central or South will be available to students from both schools.
• learned that the Hinsdale Central band has been invited to perform in the Parade of Heroes Commemoration Band during the Monumental Salute to the Veterans Nov. 13 in Washington, D.C.
