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Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III announced that the school division would keep Edgenuity courses available through Monday morning.

Though the fourth quarter ends Friday, students will be able to work on their classwork over the weekend before teachers will start the process of finalizing grades for report cards.

Gordon, in a letter posted to the division’s website and to its social media channels, said that after reviewing current progress rates for students, the division has adjusted the threshold for completing the coursework from 80 percent to 70 percent completion.

Students who finish 70 percent of their coursework and earn at least a 63 percent or higher for their work will earn an A grade.

“Just like being in the classroom, we recognize that not all students learn at the same pace,” Gordon said in the letter, “and because of this, we felt this change was in the best interest of all our students. Equitable learning is a top priority in the school division, and we do not want to penalize students who may require additional support or those who may have experienced difficulties outside of their control.”

Gordon’s letter said SPS’s instructional supervisors will be reviewing Edgenuity data to see that any content or skills that were not covered will be included in subsequent courses as they plan the curriculum for next year.

The School Board adopted a pass/fail grading plan for middle and high school students in April for fourth quarter classes. Those grades will represent 10 percent of secondary students’ final grade.

Gordon said then that the division wanted to assign A grades as passing, in part, because it did not want to hurt any students who plan to play college sports, because the NCAA assigns a D grade to high school students who receive a P grade for passing a course. He said he wanted students to have a tangible incentive to do their work.

Each of the first two quarters of work for high school students will represent 31 percent of their final grade, with the midterm counting for eight percent and the third quarter — which ran from Jan. 30 through April 10, counting as 20 percent.

Grades for middle school students in the first two quarters of the school year count for 35 percent each, and 20 percent in the third quarter.

Secondary students have been using Edgenuity for core courses and world languages, and Google Classroom for others.