Last June, the MCPS Board of Education released a revision to the grading policy, which caused an uproar among high schoolers all over the county. To understand why many high school students have lost trust in the Board and are panicking over this new grading policy, we need to look at the changes implemented. At its theoretical core, the new MCPS grading policy was created to promote fairness and academic growth, but its implementation, timing and MCPS’s lack of transparency raise serious concerns.
Previously, the semester grade would be determined by an MCPS-created chart which ignored percentages and rounded up letter grades. The grade rounding was significant and concealed a student’s true academic understanding of the class. Under the new policy, if a student earns a 90 percent one quarter and a 80 percent the next, the semester grade will be 85 percent. With the new grading policy, the mean of the two grades will be calculated and added on the transcript instead. This means that an 80 and 90 percent would round to a B at 85 percent, which would previously have been an A
The new policy also changed the existing 50 percent rule. Previously, you could turn in work and receive at least 50 percent credit for it as long as it was submitted before the end of the quarter interim. You also could earn a 50 percent or above on an assignment if you demonstrated you showed effort. Under the new grading policy, a student will now receive a zero for any work that is turned in after the deadline. A 50 percent can only be given in the case that work that has been submitted, but fails to meet all requirements of the assignment.
A student can also earn below 50 percent if the teacher decides the student can not “show evidence of making progress,” according to Bethesda Magazine. As a result, MCPS also created a new policy that standardizes the length of time between due dates and deadlines and defines academic ability: deadlines are now required to be no less than five days after the due date and a student’s work has become subjective.
However, while the change might seem abrupt and unfair, it was needed. “I think it was necessary but the way they went about it was not ideal. I think it makes it unnecessarily stressful; they could have told us before we signed up for classes,” sophomore Sophia Wang said.
This new grading policy ensures that students have an understanding of the material taught and are ready to apply it in the future, beyond just reading and memorizing facts. While some may disagree, many courses at colleges require knowing prerequisite fundamentals from high school, and without them, students will not be able to perform well. This causes not only an inconvenience to the student who doesn’t know their material even though their transcript says they do, but also college professors who assume this student is prepared enough for the class. This grading policy was needed for students to gain a passion for learning as well as maintaining a well deserved GPA.
However, there is some validity in the widespread student concerns regarding these changes. The main reason students are frustrated with this grading policy is due to their lack of representation in its passing or timeframe. Many students selected rigorous and time consuming courses in the fall of 2024, assuming the grading policy would remain unchanged. However, this policy change was passed after June 6, the deadline to change course selections for the upcoming school year. Ultimately, this resulted in students picking harder courses under the erroneous assumption that MCPS would not change their grading policy.
The lack of clarity surrounding this change has caused students a lot of distress. The sudden change in grading has worsened the mental health of students. Many are more worried about their grades and assignments than before, causing additional stress and baggage on top of the effect that school already has on many of us. While the additional focus on academics has the capacity to create a positive effect on student understanding , it is still not fair for students to have to sacrifice time and effort for a policy that was not clearly defined until recently.
This summer, a group of MCPS high school students were the majority of testifiers at the July Board of Education meeting. Students spoke about ‘ the impact that grades have on student mental health, and how the new grading policy will lead to a decrease in emotional well-being. Other students praised the new policy for protecting their mental wellbeing and providing new regulations regarding due dates and deadlines. “Some teachers would put the deadline the day after the due date. It made keeping track [of assignments] stressful,” sophomore Henock Arega said.
MCPS must improve transparency and support for changes like this in the future, regardless of their fairness. In addition, If they suddenly begin to expect more academic success out of students, they need to start providing more academic support as well. If MCPS truly values its students, it needs genuine accountability, transparency, and to stop viewing them as numbers.
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