Eye of the Tiger
Potential new grading policy expected to be beneficial to students, teachers, and parentsMonday, April 20, 2009 By Kylee Allison
A district-wide review team has asked individual schools within the Roseville Joint Union High School District to revisit their grading policies. “Generally speaking people seem to agree that reviewing ‘grading’ is long overdue,” said assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction John Montgomery. “Most would say that grading hasn’t changed significantly since they were students themselves.” The latest version of the policy is currently being “debated over, built up, and torn down,” according to the board, in various discussions at board sites. The main question addressed by everyone involved, and that board members are trying to answer is, “What does the grade mean?” Adopting a new policy includes adjusting the purpose of the system, criteria, factors in grading, classroom grading policy, and the standard grading system, which determines what a passing grade is. According to Montgomery, renewing the grading policy will be beneficial to students, parents, teachers, and counselors. When they better understand what the grades mean, they can benefit from it. Parents may use grades as motivation and support for their children. Teachers look at grades to determine if their students understand the material in the way they teach it. “Everyone could benefit from looking into the grading policy to learn more about the subject and one’s progress in learning something,” said Montgomery. District representatives have been discussing the grading since last year. According to Montgomery, it is very old and outdated. Depending on the level of changes that are adopted, the chances are high that adjustments will be made to the current policy. According to Montgomery, there are still many questions. Objections by faculty or board members to adopting a new policy cannot yet be determined without continued discussion. When a possible new policy will be finished is undetermined. |