Curriculum

Whitfield County Schools participates in a gifted screening process each year. The consideration window and nomination for the testing process for elementary and middle schools begin in January. School personnel and parents may nominate their child for this consideration. Testing is conducted in February.  Please contact your child's school if you have any questions.

The Whitfield County Board of Education recognizes that it is both the right and the responsibility of the teacher to assign grades to students for work completed as required by the teacher in connection with a specific educational setting, activity, and/or course. The Board further recognizes no justification for reducing a student’s grades to penalize the student for misbehavior or for upgrading for non-academic reasons. The misrepresentation of achievement by upgrading or downgrading is improper and unethical.

The Whitfield County Board of Education recognizes that the responsibility to make grade corrections for clerical errors rests with the teacher. The written request by a teacher to correct a previously assigned numerical grade requires the written approval to the school-level administrator.

Exceptions exist when the teacher is unavailable to request needed grade corrections due to extenuating circumstances. When such conditions exist, the school-level administrator is responsible for authorizing in writing needed grade corrections. Any grade corrections after one year from the date the grade report was issued will require the written approval of the Superintendent.

The Board of Education directs the Superintendent to establish written procedures necessary to carry out this policy.

Visit the Grading Systems policy page for more information.

Kindergarten (GKIDS)

The Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (GKIDS) is a year-long, performance-based assessment aligned to the state mandated content standards. Throughout the year, teachers may assess students and record GKIDS data based on their system’s curriculum map or report card schedule. At the end of the year, summary reports and individual student reports will be generated based on the data the teacher has entered throughout the year.

ELA, Math, Social Studies, and Science standards will be assessed using two to five performance levels for each element.

• Not Yet Demonstrated
• Emerging
• Progressing
• Meets the Standard
• Exceeds the Standard

There are three non-academic areas that can be assessed using GKIDS: Approaches to Learning, Personal and Social Development, and Motor Skills. The Motor Skills domain is optional. Teachers may choose to record motor skills data only for students that demonstrate an area of concern. Students are assessed using the following performance levels:

• Area of Concern
• Developing
• Consistently Demonstrated

First – Second Grade (Standards Based Rubric):

These report cards report a child’s progress towards meeting the standards of his/her grade level. The standards are provided to parents at the beginning of each school year and gradelevel standards information is also provided. These standards are specific on the report card itself and represent the curriculum of the Whitfield County Schools and the State of Georgia and inc!ude grades for academic achievement, specials classes, and work habits and initiative.

Academic courses include English/language arts, math, science, social studies. The standards rubric for academic performance level for is as follows:

Specials classes include art, music, health and physical education. Specials classes and Work Habits have the following grading scale:

Academic courses include English/language arts, math, science, social studies. The standards rubric for academic performance level for is as follows:

• X - Not assessed this Grading Period
• 1 - Attempts (Minimum progress toward expectation)
• 2 - In Progress (Progressing toward expectations)
• 3 - Meets (Independently demonstrates expectations)

Specials classes include art, music, health and physical education. Specials classes and Work Habits have the following grading scale:

• S - Satisfactory
• N - Needs Improvement
• U - Unsatisfactory

Third – Twelfth Grade

All coursed third through twelfth grade will receive a numeric score as a final grade

A = 90–100
B = 80–89
C = 70–79
F = Below 70

• Third – Fifth Grade Calculation
  • All third, fourth, and fifth grade academic courses will calculate final grades by the average of four (4) nine week grading periods.
  • Academic courses include English/language arts, math, science, social studies.
  • Specials or Connections classes include art, music, health and physical
    education. Specials classes have the following grading scale:
    • S - Satisfactory
    • N - Needs Improvement
    • U - Unsatisfactory

Middle School Calculation

• All middle school academic courses will calculate final grades by the average of three twelve (12) week grading periods.
• Connections classes may include art, music, health, physical education and STEM classes.
  • Yearlong Connections class final grades will calculated by the average of the three 12 week grading periods.
  • Twelve (12) week Connections class final grades will be calculated by cumulative score for the period.

High School Calculation

• Yearlong Courses with Georgia Milestone EOC will be calculated using the following formula: 45% of Semester 1 + 45% of Semester 2 + 10% Georgia Milestone EOC
• Yearlong Courses without Georgia Milestone EOC will be calculated using the following formula: 45% of Semester I + 45% of Semester 2 + 10% Final Exam
• Semester Courses with Georgia Milestone EOC will be calculated using the following formula: 90% Semester+ 10% Georgia Milestone EOC
• Semester Courses without Georgia Milestone EOC will be calculated using the following formula: 90% Semester+ 10% Final Exam