Administrators enacted a new 80-20 grade scale policy this year to give students a more uniform experience throughout their classes.

Robert Vossel, principal, stressed how important consistency and giving students the best experience possible played a role in this decision.

“We start to look at doing the best we can in guaranteeing the students get the best experience we can, we need to have consistency across those courses for our students,” Vossel said

The 80-20 grade scale consists of 80% of a student’s grade being summative and 20% being formative.

“One of the things that came out of this is that the teachers within a given course are responsible for collaboratively coming up with what are the assignments, the assessments, the activities, that we all agree we are going to do regardless of which class period you’re in,” Vossel said. “That’s going to make up 80% of a student’s grade. The other 20% of a student’s grade is for teachers to decide individually,” Vossel said.

Vossel also said the idea was already talked about before he was on the payroll. A group of teachers and department chairs were originally the ones that had the idea to make a change.

“I talked to different department chairs. I talked to the assistant principal and through conversations, information about this and other things happening in the building came up and so I started to get up to speed on it quickly,” Vossel said.

In making this decision, Vossel said the school put the student’s needs first, but some are unhappy with the change that has been made and how it could effect their grade as the quarter ends.

“The new grading system puts in a difficult situation for students who are hard workers and complete their homework, however, may not do as good on the tests. The 80-20 grading puts more stress for students for classes because if they mess up on one exam, it can lead to ineligibility and other stressors,” Adrian Ganoza, junior, said.

Another student agrees with the new policy and is happy with the changes that have been made.

“I am very content with the new system. Because of the new system, students are rewarded for knowing the material of the class instead of their work ethic, and completing busy-work assignment,”Alex Slowik, junior,  said.

Vossel said the school is open for change in the future, however, no changes will be made until next year. Students who have concerns can voice them to teachers, who will later take them to department heads or Vossel.