During the 2024-2025 school year last year the BCPS grading policy changed, tightening the minimum expectations for students to pass a course. Students now earn their credits a semester at a time verse throughout the four quarter year.
How did this change things exactly as some find it confusing? Now students’ GPAs and credits are recalculated mid year and at the end rather than just at the end of the year. However, now unfortunately students can fail a semester and only get 1/2 credit for a course they need a full credit for, creating a need to figure out how to make up half of the course in time to still graduate on time.
This system also makes it where it’s almost impossible to even fail for a quarter as a failed grade for even 1 quarter puts a student in danger of not passing the semester and getting their full credit.
Students have received grades since they started school way back in elementary but high school is where they really start to count. If a student does not meet the minimum requirement to pass they are then in danger of not graduating on time.
“Throughout all of school k-12 grades are an evaluation of a student’s knowledge, performance, and mastery in a subject. Grades are a way to assess a student’s work. It gives them a score based on the quality of work they complete,” shares ELA teacher Ms. Taylor.
Grades are important because they allow a student and teacher to understand their level of knowledge on said subject, which helps them know what to focus on in their future learning. Grades can have a long term impact on students at the high school level with academic opportunities for things like college admissions and scholarships and even job opportunities or insurance rate discounts!
Grades are important but a fixation on grades can lower students’ self-esteem and life satisfaction. Grades encourage comparison and competition among students, potentially harming their relationships with their peers and teachers. Grades also affect parents and teachers too. Parents rely mainly on grades to know if their children are doing well in school, they often find it difficult to assess their child’s educational success without grades.
Students often think of grades as something important and stressful. This is what people call “academic pressure” making kids depressed or giving them anxiety. “Grades mean a lot to me because they make me feel like they determine my future. Sometimes it feels like I just need to get a good grade on something because it’ll affect me not just in school with my GPA but also affect me at home when I get a bad grade. Grades mean everything and nothing at the same time,” shares junior student Harmony A.
Students are made to believe grades are the most important things when it comes to school. It sucks all of the interest and enjoyment at times to where some students dislike school because of the pressure. “Good grades are important because they reflect the amount of work, effort, and dedication that you’re willing to put into work, which, in turn, reflect on your future work ethic. They’re also important, not just for students, but for teachers as well, because they communicate to teachers what they need to focus more or less on during lessons. Overall, grades are an indicator of a student’s willingness to put forth effort and invest in their future,” shares Mekhai J who understands the value of why we must have a grading system in place.
Keyajah finds the pressure of grades a tug of war of positives and negatives. “The pressure of grades affects me because I want to live up to the expectations my family has for me. It negatively affects me at the same time because of that pressure of wanting to live up to what they expect without letting it affect me too much. The pressure of getting good grades positively impacts in a way because when they’re good it encourages me to keep going and it makes the hard work worth it,” she shares.
The message of grades presented to students in high school is good grades equals a good life. “If you have good grades, it will help you to apply to good colleges, which in turn leads to good jobs in the future . Good grades are presented as the best shortcut.”
BCPS may have tightened the expectations, making failing grades almost not an option but solid decent grades are the stepping stones to what comes next.
