Dear Editor:

The new grading at NHS called the “80/20” scale was implemented this year by administrators to put more emphasis on learning and being able to grow as students rather than sending them home with hours of busy work. It is called 80/20 because the scale works by basing grades off of 80 percent summative and 20 percent formative assignments. Summative assignments include tests, projects, speeches, essays, and group work. Formative assignments include traditional homework and practice, quizzes, and smaller level assignments. Students at NHS have had mixed emotions, but overall the cry for a change is heard loud and clear.

A study done by the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education used gpas of students and compared it with different schools across the country to determine what the effects are of scales. They found that most students performed better when they felt the scale was a less stressful type such as a plus/minus scale, which means students get one set score for a A, B, C, D, or F and then get either more or less points towards their gpa for a plus or minus letter grade. Students considered this less stressful because they do not have to worry about what each type of assignment is weighted as.

To many, the grading scale negatively affects grades and learning by putting extreme amounts of added pressure on them. While students understand what the administrators are trying to do it would be better if the administrators asked what they, as a student body, want before throwing them into a new situation.

This grading scale does not only affect one student, though. Kids from every grade are heading to Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat to complain about this scale and the way it has been implemented. Mainly, students wish they had more say in how they chose the scale since it is their grades being affected.

According to Principal Brian Wunderlich, students need to be more prepared for college and this grading scale will help them by being closer to how college actually is. The whole goal of this scale was simply to promote learning and not memorizing material.

The announcements given on Dec. 1 by Wunderlich mentioned that he understands stress is a problem for many kids and maybe the way we fix it is by focusing on group work rather than standard tests. While this may work for some kids it does not take into consideration the students with social anxiety and depression. Group work also means you would have to decide if it would be individual grades or a whole group grade and with a group grade what about those who sit back and let the “smart kids” do all the work for them?

The main focus of how our grading is sorted out should come from not the ones who grade, but the ones who have to make the grade. While there are students are on the assessment committee, why would adults feel the need to listen them? Our whole lives as students we have been trained to be inferior and not equal to our teachers and administrators.

An article written by the Stanford News talks about and mentions how stress because of grades can cause cheating and plagiarism. According to the article, there is plenty more that goes into cheating besides low integrity which by looking into past studies student integrity has been growing since the 1900s to the point where students will admit or even turn themselves for cheating. It is merely the pressure and stress by not only the schools, but also the parents to achieve top scores and “make the grade” as some people may say. Panelists linked cheaters to being the kids who put the importance of grades above anything else — even their conscience.

Stress and sadness are issues at our school. Most stem from grades and then continue to grow into friendship problems and dating issues. If success is what the administrators want from their students why are they making it so hard for us to achieve? Sure, getting prepared for college is important, but in high school students do not need to focus your entire mind on studying, doing projects and writing essays. High school is when students should be developing themselves and figuring out where they want to take their lives after graduation. The 80/20 scale needs a change or at least an improvement, and the way to do it is to actually talk to the students, not just the administrators.

Sincerely,

Mady Anderson, junior