Dear editors of the Spartan Spin,
Since its introduction, standards based grading has been largely disliked by many
students, parents, and even teachers. While many of its issues have been solved, one
prevailing problem is the lack of feedback that students are receiving. This is primarily because
of the lack of letter grades being shown all school year long in powerschool. After investigating
why this is the way it is, we have found out that the reason why is that the admin wants
“students to keep working toward proficiency… on each of the standards and not just think
about things in terms of the letter grade.”
The ease of access of powerschool without letter grades can be tricky for students,
parents, and businesses. This is because of the multiple steps that need to be taken in order to
calculate the true letter grade a student has. Firstly, you need to take multiple steps just to see
the standard grades. After that you must use those numbers to calculate the letter grade for the
class which is a very time consuming process. With each class having different ways of grading,
average or highest, this complicates the process.
Problems can occur when students are unhappy with their letter grades that they were
not aware of. We are blessed with the ability to reassess some summatives but there is a 2
week deadline. If a student has a grade they believe will help them achieve their letter grade
goal and they miss the two week deadline, they can’t change it. The inability to see grades can
cause unneeded stress to teachers too, on top of students.
To remedy these problems I suggest that we turn letter grades on all year round. This will
help translate the confusing standards into feedback that parents and students can understand
quickly. It will also simplify how grades are checked and tell students when they are missing
assignments more effectively.
Sincerely,
Sagittarius Lefor, Owen Blomfelt, Kegan Sumption, Mariah Miller, Hudsen Helenius, Ava Hirvela