No More Quarters: Is This a Good Thing?

Many+students+favor+the+new+semester+system+because+it+gives+them+more+time+to+raise+their+grades.+

Jack Ging

Many students favor the new semester system because it gives them more time to raise their grades.

For the first time in the school’s history, the year is no longer separated into quarters, and now only runs by semester. This means that a student’s semester grade will no longer be determined by how well they do each quarter, but will be averaged throughout the entire semester. 

I think this nationwide movement is greatly beneficial to students, as it gives them a greater chance to bring their grade up as the semester goes on. Having 40 percent of your grade locked in after every quarter was unfair, as it made your grade not as accurate as it would’ve been had the entire semester been averaged out. It’s easy to have a hard time for one portion of the year but then do really well at another point. 

“Having a quarter grade that is bad kind of dooms a kid for a semester. If one unit goes really bad and your grade dips, you still have the rest of the semester to get it back up,” said Sean Brennan, dean of students.

Courtesy of District 86
The school’s 2019-2020 calendar shows that there is no longer any quarters.

As this change reaches more and more universities throughout the country, high schools are converting over in an effort to better prepare kids for college. 

“For me, I feel like it was more stress to have quarters because it was an extra deadline, so I was happy to hear they got rid of them,” said Anna LaMountain, senior. 

This change in the grading schedule has left students at the school with mixed opinions. 

“I prefer quarters because we get a fresh start in the middle of each semester,” said Neel Donthamsetti, junior.

This is the first year that the school has tried this, so we’ll have to wait to see if it’s beneficial or detrimental to the grading process.