Montgomery Country Public Schools will implement a new semester grading system in the upcoming 2016-2017 school year, as a result of new marking period assessment implementation and thorough feedback gathered by MCPS staff.

With the elimination of semester final exams, semester grades will be determined by the two marking period grades. The previous trend system will no longer be used if the marking period grades follow a downward trend.

“A grade should always reflect what the student actually knows and is able to do…[and the] skills they are taking with them that they didn’t have before,” assistant school administrator Steve Orders said. “The [semester] grade should somehow reflect that.”

The new grading policy is expected to help students become eligible for extracurricular activities, and also alleviate students’ semester grades if the student had a bad marking period. “I don’t have a problem with [the revised semester grading table],”science teacher Pam Ciliberti said. “I think it’s going to work out fine.”

Although the incentives sound appealing, English teacher Dave Sampselle is concerned that students are going to be in for a rough surprise when they get to college expecting the same type of grade leniency.  “I think that the people in charge who made up this policy are scared out their minds about all the [students] who fail and are doing everything they can to keep [the students] from failing,” Sampselle said.

The next school year will be the first time this new grading policy will be put into effect, so “we’re going to see how it plays out,” Orders added.

Ciliberti is choosing to stay positive because the new policy is a chance to help students succeed.  “As long as we’re all improving and trying to put the best foot forward everyday,” Ciliberti said.

“[The students] will feel better about themselves…[and have] less therapy sessions,” Sampselle joked. “What’s an ‘A’? Is it an ‘A’ and an ‘A’ or an ‘A’ and a ‘B’?”