By Tyler Churilla
All across the globe, schools have had to make the difficult shift from in class learning to online learning. While this is happening, students are beginning to worry about what will happen to their grades. Florida schools are practicing distance learning for the rest of the school year, but some information on grades and final assessments are unclear. Dr Oberkehr, Principal of Ponte Vedra High School, was recently interviewed about this subject, and the following questions were asked:
-What will happen to the finals category? (10% semester grade):
“We certainly know that the Final Exam Category will not influence the 4th quarter grade. How that will be accomplished is still being debated.”
-How will these grades affect transcripts? Will student transcripts still read the same or will there be any special notations regarding the grading of the 4th quarter?:
“Final Exam grades will have no impact on transcripts, i.e. the second semester final grade will be based upon the average of the third and fourth quarter grades alone. I am not aware of any plans to insert special notation with respect to transcripts and the fourth quarter grade.”
-Why have all the grades shifted to formative assignments?
“By only using the formative category, student grades would not be dramatically influenced by a summative assessment which carries a greater weight (75%).”
-Is there any specific information that students should be aware of during this quarter regarding grading?
“I am not aware of anything that students and parents have not been made aware of already, with exception of what will be entered in for the Final Exam Grade….but again whatever that is….it will not impact the fourth quarter grade.”
One more question that is extremely important is if seniors will still be graduating, and be moving on to college? Seniors will be graduating this year and moving on to their respected colleges despite the changes. Schools must adjust to this new way of learning, and students have a whole new challenge to overcome. The removal of the summative assessments should alleviate some concern of students while working at home and make this new transition more manageable.
