6-8 Grade Reporting Guide

Grade Reporting Guide: 6-8

Mar 29, 2023

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The following guide is to assist in simplifying and demystifying the grade reporting process for students in our homeschool, self-paced, and online courses. Even if your students are exclusively taking online courses, you may still have some end of semester reporting to receive your student’s grade report, so keep reading!

What courses can I report?

You can only report grades for courses your student is officially registered in. If you wish to register in an additional Kolbe or non-Kolbe course, please fill out a Course Change Request Form for your advisor to review and approve prior to submitting your grade portfolio.

Note: "In middle school, students are permitted to report a maximum of 12 academic courses per semester."

What courses do I need to report?

Reporting grades for courses is an optional service that Kolbe provides. You do not need to report any online Kolbe courses taught by our instructors; these will be reported by the teachers. Audited online courses will need to be reported by the parent. The courses you need to report in the portfolio are:

Any non-academic courses, including but not limited to Art, Music, and PE.
Any Kolbe courses taken in the homeschool or digital self-paced format, including those with a Plus grading service
Any non-Kolbe courses that you want on the Kolbe report card
Any online courses your student is auditing

Note: “It is important to remember that review of portfolios of sample work is a service of Kolbe Academy, not a requirement. If reports are not filed, recommended grades provided on the report card cannot be validated for the purpose of issuing diplomas or providing an official grade record."

What can I report for art, music, and PE?

Art: Describe the student's weekly art activity including frequency and duration. Pictures may be submitted in lieu of a written description.
Music: Describe the student's weekly music activity including frequency and duration. Please note a valid course must include some type of instructional work.
Physical Education: Describe the student's weekly PE activity including frequency and duration.

NOTE: Non-academic courses, such as music, art, and PE, are considered non-academic. Primary educators can use the Pass or Fail grade on the Grade Submission Form for non-academic courses.

My student has a PE and Fine Arts course in Schoology. Do I still need to report these in the grade portfolio?

No. If your student has a Schoology account for a digital self-paced or online course, they will have a Physical Education course and may have a Fine Arts course in Schoology. These courses contain only a reporting “assignment” for you and your student to complete at the end of each semester. In this assignment, you will verify that your student has completed requirements for the course and provide a brief description of their activity. If you do this, you do not need to report these courses via the portfolio process. If your student is exclusively taking online courses, aside from PE or Fine Arts, you can complete all your reporting via Schoology and do not need to send in a grade portfolio.

Note: "The primary educator will need to be logged into the student's Schoology account to complete these assignments."

How do I report grades for Self-Paced Plus courses?

Beginning with courses completed in the 2022-2023 school year and beyond, there are two options to report a Self-Paced Plus course grade. Your first step is to locate the "Grade Reporting" folder in your student's Self-Paced Plus course(s) in Schoology (see image below for an example). Complete the assessments in this folder after the corresponding Semester has ended. The assessment will give two options:

The asynchronous teacher can submit the final semester grade as it appears in the Schoology grade book. In this case, there is no need for the parent to submit anything to their advisor.
Or, the asynchronous teacher will not submit anything. In this case, the parent or primary educator is responsible for submitting all samples and the grade submission form for this course.

The primary educator will indicate in the assessment which option they prefer. When selecting the first option, the primary educator does not have to submit the course in the grade portfolio. When selecting the second option, the primary educator will need to submit the course's final grade on the grade submission form, if they desire, for the course to be reflected on the student's grade report.

For students taking high school Self-Paced Plus courses and have selected the asynchronous teacher to submit the grade, please ensure the following each semester:

To earn credit with no designation: any 2 assignments need to be submitted for Self-Paced Plus grading.
To earn the K designation: 4 papers, midterm and final exam are required to be submitted for Self-Paced Plus grading.
To earn the H designation: 8 papers and 2 exams are required to be submitted for Self-Paced Plus grading.

Note: "The primary educator will need to be logged into the student's Schoology account to complete these assignments."

What is a Grade Portfolio?

A Grade Portfolio consists of the following items, which you will ideally compile into one PDF and email to [email protected].

6-8th Grade GRADE SUBMISSION FORM (GSF) – A two-page document including a checklist page and a grade submission page to report K-8 courses only. The GSF must include:
- Student’s name
- Grade Level (e.g. 8th)
- Reporting semester
- Primary educator’s email address
- Course titles, as you would like them to appear on the final report card if you prefer a title other than what is provided
- Semester letter grade for each academic course and a P/F grade for any non-academic courses
- Primary educator's signature and date
- Descriptions of non-academic course activity (PE, Fine Arts, Music, etc.) on the checklist page

For students taking Kolbe high school courses of math, science and/or foreign language in 8th grade who are requesting high school credit:

9-12th Grade GRADE SUBMISSION FORM (GSF) – A two-page document including a checklist page and report card page to report high school courses only. The GSF must include:
- Student’s name
- Grade Level (e.g. 8th)
- Reporting semester
- Primary educator’s email address
- Course Designation Code
- Semester letter grade for each course
- Primary educator's signature and date
- HONORS COVERSHEET – (Required only for high school honors courses.)
SAMPLES – Two samples per subject per semester for each registered course you are reporting. Each sample must be completed by the student and reflect grading with a letter grade, percentage, checkmark, or another grading mark. Please label each sample with:
- Student’s name
- Course/subject
- Assigned grade (letter or percent)
- Assigned semester
- Academic year

Note:

Samples must show their own student work (e.g. student answers to essay questions, answer sections, etc.).

Samples do not need to include the entire assignment unless seeking the Kolbe or Honors designations (as in the case for a student taking a high school course in 8th grade).

Sample scans must be legible; faded text, distant photographs, and other difficult to review samples will not be accepted.

No samples are required for the non-academic courses like Fine Arts, PE, and Music as long as a sufficient description of student activity is provided in the relevant section of the Grade Submission Form.

Videos, certifications of completion, and course descriptions for academic courses will not be accepted. In these cases, the course will be reported as a non-academic course with an automatic P/F grade.

If submitting samples for Kolbe high school courses to receive high school credit, please submit the required K or H samples.

3. ATTENDANCE RECORD – (Submitted at the end of Semester 2 and required only for California residents; optional for non-CA residents)

4. HONORS COVERSHEET – (Required only for honors courses)

Where can I find these forms?

The Grade Submission Form and Checklist for all grade levels can be located on our Welcome Packet. The link to download the form is found halfway down the page under the header “Grade Submission Form and Checklist”. You can navigate to this page by searching for “Welcome Packet” in the Help Center or by navigating from the main page to Current Families > Filing Grade Reports > Learn More.
The Attendance Record is found on the same Welcome Packet page under the header “Course of Study.
The Honor Coversheet is found alongside the course plan in the PowerSchool Parent Portal. Click the hyperlinked “[i]” in the S1 column of each course listing in your Quick Lookup view to find the hyperlinked coversheet available for download.

I Need Help Completing the Grade Submission Form and Checklist

For help, please see our Completing the 6-8 Grade Submission Form and Checklist article. If a Kolbe high school course in foreign language, science and/or math for high school credit is being reported for an 8th grade student, please review our Completing the 9-12 Grade Submission Form and Checklist article as well.

I Need Help Scanning Documents

Please see our help article on How to Scan the Grade Portfolio Documents.

How should I submit this portfolio?

The following tips will help you submit a portfolio that is complete, easy to review, and likely to have a quicker turnaround.

ONE DOCUMENT – Compile all portfolio documents into one PDF or a few scanned documents. The more scanned documents submitted over a long a period of time, the greater likelihood your forms or samples can get overlooked, misplaced, or misidentified.
ONE EMAIL – Send all portfolio documents in one email or, if attachment size is an issue, at most a few well-labeled emails on the same day.
CLEARLY LABELED – Labeling the subject line of the submission email with your student’s name, grade level, school year, the semester submitted ensures the email gets to the right team. Clearly labeling each document in the submission also ensures the team can review your portfolio accurately and efficiently.
[email protected] – Email your portfolio directly to [email protected] to ensure delivery. While advisors have accepted grade portfolios directly to their personal Kolbe emails in the past, and advisors may reach out to you directly with questions, all initial submissions and all follow-up sample submissions should be sent to this reporting inbox. This ensures that the team processing grade reports can prioritize the report correctly and that no submissions are lost with staff promotion or transitions.
TIMELY – There are no grade reporting deadlines. We recommend you submit your student’s portfolio within a month of completing the semester or a month of completing the year if you choose to report annually. If the reviewers follow up with additional submission needs, you still have ready access and fresh memory for student work.

I Need a Visual Aid

Please see the visual guide below or scroll down to the bottom of this article to download this image as a PDF with clickable links.

What is the “*D” column on the 9-12th Grade Submission Form?

This D stands for “Designation” and this column is where you indicate if you are taking standard, K (Kolbe), or H (Honors) designation for any Kolbe high school courses. Only students in the 8th grade taking one or more Kolbe high school level courses in the subjects of foreign language, science and/or math and requesting high school credit for these courses would need to complete a 9-12th Grade Submission Form and complete this designation column. For a brief review:

Standard designation indicates that you completed the Kolbe course plan but may or may not have modified it somewhat. Any two samples of student work from the course can be submitted. Submitting any two samples of high school course work will not earn your student high school credit for the course.
K (Kolbe) designation indicates that you completed the Kolbe course plan faithfully with minimal modifications. Specific, complete samples of certain tests are required to earn this designation. These specific samples are listed under the reporting requirements for K designation on each course plan. Submitting K samples to earn the K designation will ensure your student earns high school credit for the course.
H (Honors) designation indicates that you completed the honors version of the Kolbe course plan faithfully with minimal modifications. An honors cover sheet and specific samples are required to earn this designation. These specific samples are listed under the reporting requirements for K designation on each course plan. You can only earn this designation if your student is enrolled in the Honors version of the high school course. Submitting Honors samples to earn the Honors designation will ensure your student earns high school credit for the course.

How long will it take for Kolbe Academy to process the grade portfolio?

We aim to send your student's finalized report card back to you within 3-4 weeks of our receipt of your grade portfolio. While it is our goal to return your grade report to you within a few weeks of submission, this is not always possible during our busier seasons. Submitting complete, accurate, and timely grade portfolios helps ensure your student has an official transcript ready when you need it! Please know that your student’s success is our goal. We make every effort to support you with the student records and documentation needed.

Where can I find grade reporting guides for my students in other grades?

Who can I contact for more information?

Please contact your family advisor or email [email protected] for any further questions you may have on the grade reporting process.

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