In the next 2 years South High will see substantial changes made to its grading scale. A new plan introduced, referred to as “the 80/20 system”, will change the grading scale by increasing summative assignment weight to a whopping 80% while all other work will be weighed at merely 20%. In addition, missing assignments will now be entered into the gradebook at 50% as opposed to the previous, much less forgiving 0%.
The 80/20 system is still in its infancy. It hasn’t become the new classroom standard yet, but starting this year, numerous South High teachers implemented a trial run of it in their classrooms.
Concerns are already being expressed, both about the vagueness of the 80/20 and also about the 80/20 itself. Biology teacher Mick Hamilton said, “We have yet to be given a clear statement regarding where this change is coming from or why it’s happening. The district decided that ‘this is what we’re going to do.’ I’m not convinced it’s going to be a positive change.”
What Hamilton is referring to is the lack of information given out to staff and students about the way South plans to enforce its actions and when they are planning to take it beyond certain classrooms. Hamilton restates “I would like to see some good definitions and some good data that supports 80/20.” When talking about the 80/20 system the phase of testing which translates to very little being known about its effectiveness and convenience.
Some teachers, however, are feeling more receptive. Humanities teacher, Cory Cochrane taught with an 80/20 format prior to coming to South. She said, “We want all students to be engaged and learning. Factoring a student’s behavior into their grade makes it less clear what they learned. 80/20 and other standards-based grading gives students a clear idea if they’re meeting the standard.”
This is not a hot take, in fact, this stance is not limited to the likes of teachers, since a handful of students confidently think that “it will aim to even go as far as raise students average GPAs” said junior Zora Bael-Cyr. Although as we’ve seen there is also an opposing side to this argument. Sophomore Alex Karlen states “ I think 80/20 will just make our GPA go down and colleges don’t care how our grading system is. They’ll just look at our GPAs so I don’t think that this is a good thing since other schools don’t have to follow.”
While the 80/20 has potential, the concern stemming from the manner in which it’s being introduced is certainly overshadowing that. With teachers and students left mostly in the dark, time will only tell how this change will affect South High.
