My goal with this study is to understand the role school academic grading policies play in shaping teacher expectations for students. In the cooperating district, the newly adopted grading policies address the frequency of grades inputted, the weighting of the grades, the required types of assignments, and the various timeline requirements for student grades. A few examples of these policies are: 1) Teachers must enter a minimum of three grades per week, 2) Homework and engagement/participation must be worth a maximum of 5% at the middle school and 10% at the high school of a student's overall grade, 3) Extra credit is not allowed to be used for grade calculations, and 4) Students have the opportunity to turn in late assignments for full credit. These are just a few of the specific academic grading policies. A complete list of the academic grading policies is found in the Academic Policy Survey in Appendix B. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]