SHS administration met with staff to discuss an upcoming change in the grading scale used at SHS and Perry Meridian on Aug. 5. During the meeting, it was revealed that for the 2025-2026 school year, students will be graded using a traditional 100 point grading scale, instead of the previously used 14 point grade scale.
“We had a session where two of our teachers were trying to explain to some of our newer teachers and some staff that just had clarifying questions,” Principal Amy Boone said. “Mrs. Colson, (who) was helping lead it, was putting in pretend grades to show. And Dr. Brian Knight. and I were watching and it wasn’t calculating correctly.”
The change started with Qmlativ, this year’s version of skyward, which did not work with the 14 point grading scale.
“The reasons for the change is that Skyward was unable to calculate the score,” EL department chair Amy Peddie said.
In addition to the change in the grading scale, students can expect to notice other changes.
For example, students will now see a consistent grade breakdown of 80% performance to 20% practice in all courses. This change was made to make it easier for students to know what to expect regarding grading practices throughout each course.
“The percentage of that being kind of 80/20, I’m pretty sure that’s solid. That’s pretty consistent when I looked across the state and different high schools,” Boone said.
One of the biggest changes implemented into the grading scale is that students will have the ability to have Learning Recovery Opportunities.
This new system is being implemented with the hope that it will help students perform better academically. The new practice was put in place to give students who are struggling a second chance.
“We want to really focus on the growth for students and kind of give the idea (that) (that) just because you didn’t understand it yesterday, doesn’t mean that you didn’t get it today,” Boone said.
Students can expect for the new guideline to change as departments try to figure out how they want to implement the new rule.
While some teachers are in favor of the new change, others have some concerns.
“From a teacher’s perspective, though, retakes also bring challenges,” math department co-chair Mary Wheeler said.” If students know they can always try again, some may not prepare as carefully for the first attempt.”
Although the grade scale change was a rushed decision due to the failure of the 14 point scale in Qmlativ and the quickly approaching school year, it has the potential to be helpful to both faculty and students alike.
