Report Cards

The Palms school year is made up of two 20-week semesters. Each semester, students receive two progress reports and two report cards. The same Report Card form is used for all four reports.

See also:

• Academic Credits
• Eighth Grade Eligibility
• Eligibility for Grade-Level Activities
• Physical Education Grading Policy

In general, grades for work habits and cooperation cover the previous five weeks.

• Example: Your child got an S in work habits on the 5-week progress report, but for the next five weeks he earned an E for his work habits. The 10-week report card will usually indicate a grade of E.

Attendance figures are cumulative and cover the entire semester up to that point.

• Example: Your child's 5-week progress report showed that she was absent 2 days. During the next five weeks, she was absent 1 day. The 10-week report card will indicate a total figure of 3 days absent.

Academic grades show your child's progress up to that point in the semester.

• Example: Your child received a grade of C in science on his 5-week progress report. During the next five weeks, your child works successfully to bring up that grade to a B. The 10-week report card will show a grade of B.

During the first 2 or 3 weeks of the Fall semester, some students are re-assigned to get them into the right academic and elective classes. Classes can't be balanced this way in advance, since until schools starts we don't know which neighborhood students will show up to attend Palms, or what their academic placements should be. If teacher assignments change on "Norm Day" (the 5th Friday of the Fall semester), then other class assignments may change.

As a result, there is insufficient information about many students' progress so soon into the school year, and 5-week progress reports could easily be misleading or uninformative.

Parents who want to follow their child's progress don't have to wait for the 10-week report cards. They can communicate with their child's teachers at any time.

The dates for the progress reports and report cards are listed in your child's Student Planner. To learn if a progress report or report card has been sent home, check for news on this website and read the weekly email.

The 20-week grades for each semester are reported electronically to the district.

For the purposes of the Grade Level Awards ceremonies held in late May or early June, the grades for the semester just ending do not count toward that year's grade-point average, but they count toward the cumulative grade-point average that is calculated the following year.

The following chart shows which 20-week report cards are used as the basis for Grade Level Awards.