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Grade Placement

MANUAL - When a student enrolls in Jordan School District, they are placed in a grade according to their age (see the Age Chart found under "Resources"), including students who enroll from another state or country. Exceptions include:

  • A military child who does not meet the deadline but has previously attended kindergarten or a higher grade as a resident in another state. “Military child” means a child enrolled in kindergarten through grade twelve who is legally residing in the household of an active duty service member or whose parent or legal guardian is an active duty service member (53G-4-402 and 53E-3-902).
  • A student who was accelerated or retained in a previous school or district within the state of Utah. Jordan School District schools will honor the acceleration or retention.  Acceleration or retention requests for students enrolling in Jordan District for the first time may be considered only after the student has been enrolled according to their age and appropriate time has been given for observations (usually about six (6) weeks).
  • A student who was home schooled: Students who were home schooled should be placed based on the parent’s request. Examples include:
      • The student attended a public school in 7th grade but was in home school for 8th  grade.  The parent(s) or guardian(s) requests placement in 8th grade. The school would place the student according to the request.
      • The student attended public school in 7th grade but was in home school for 8th grade.  The parent(s) or guardian(s) states that the student completed both 8th and 9th grade during the past school year, and requests placement in 10th grade. The school would place the student according to the request. See the “Grade Placement of a Student Returning from Home School” form found in the “School Resources” section.
  • The student has never been in an education setting. The student should be placed according to their age. Placing students in grades other than their age-appropriate placement to compensate for any educational (including language) advancement or deficit shall be avoided. In such cases acceleration/retention testing may be completed to address such concerns (§53G-6-706).
  • The student is coming from an education setting outside of the U.S. The student should be placed according to their age. In most cases this is the most appropriate placement for the child. If legal custodial parent(s) or guardian(s) communicate disagreement with this, or if the school sees obvious indicators that the student has been misplaced, acceleration/retention testing may be conducted for proper grade placement if the student is age-eligible to enroll in public school in Utah.
  • Student enrolling in the first grade but didn’t meet the entry date for Kindergarten the previous year. A student may be enrolled in the first grade even though the child did not meet the entry date for kindergarten the previous year, provided a full year of kindergarten was successfully completed in another state or private school (not daycare or preschool). The parent(s) or guardian(s) shall provide convincing evidence that the child has the academic, social and emotional skills necessary to succeed in first grade AND provide a statement from the previous school which verifies the student’s successful completion of the kindergarten curriculum.

Jordan School District does NOT enroll:

  • Any student who has previously received a diploma.
  • Any student who is not five (5) years of age before September 2nd of the year they will be entering school (R277-419-2).

If the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) disagree with the student’s placement they may request acceleration or retention testing. Acceleration or retention testing is conducted to determine academic ability (see Grade Accelerations or Retentions in the Planning and Student Services Manual).

 

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