by Steffi Carrera ’14

Although the grading system used in high schools throughout Montgomery County may seem straightforward, there is not one simple answer as to what dictates a student’s grade. The overall grade can generally be broken down into two components: the ability a student has in terms of intelligence and the amount of effort he or she puts toward a class. Whether one carries more weight is unclear, and therefore leads to speculation about the accuracy of a grade.

“In my experiences, students earn the grade they worked for. With few exceptions, students who struggle but put in a solid effort will pass with a decent grade,” said science teacher Michael Miehl. “On the other hand, students who are gifted but don’t put in the work have unpredictable grades.  They could earn a ‘B’ or barely pass, perhaps even fail. The MCPS grading system weighs a variety of work to calculate a student’s grade, so a student who aces all the tests but does nothing else could pass the class but not with flying colors.”

While a broad range of assignments may help some students maintain high grades, or boost them when necessary, it can harm those who may have mastered a subject but are not interested in completing every worksheet or homework assignment.

Junior Jacob Fishbein has encountered this very situation; although he is talented in English with impressive writing skills, his grade does not consistently reflect his intelligence. He admits to sometimes not reading an assigned book for class because he does not find it interesting, causing his grade to suffer once he fails the reading-based quiz that accompanies it. “No one’s grades completely reflect [his/her] ability or intelligence,” commented Fishbein. “Being smart is different than what it takes to get good grades.”

English teacher Beth Dibler agrees that effort plays a part when it comes to grading a student, but believes that one’s intellect is a deciding factor. “They go hand in hand … when I look at the grades by the end of the quarter they generally do match up to what a student deserves,” stated Dibler.

This grading system is not effective for every student, yet there seem to be few legitimate alternatives. Miehl concludes that in his ideal world there would be no grading system, instead students would design their own projects.

“Students would be assigned mastery objectives with very specific criteria, but these objectives would take into account the students’ interests and future career plans. [They] would need to pass a proficiency exam in these classes in order to validate that they’ve learned the basic concepts for their thesis project,” said Miehl. “The advantage of this system is it is much more realistic in terms of how the ‘real world’ operates. The downside is it requires a completely different way of thinking about grades and operating school.”