The most impactful decision on students this year was the 90/10 policy. This had an unimaginable influence, not only on grades, but also the mental and physical health of students.
I would like the AHS administration to consider allowing students to drop the lowest summative grade in each of their classes.
This helps compensate for one aspect of learning that the 90/10 seemingly forgot. Some topics are impossible. Everyone has this. This is not a fixed mindset nor defeatism, but the reality.
Some lessons, some units, are impossible, and if you fail a summative because you didn’t understand the unit, you will likely fail the retake, because you didn’t and still don’t understand it. Any student can attest to this.
In past years, this was not a big issue. However, now that summatives count for 90% of your grade, it is. 90/10 hyper exaggerates everything summative. Allowing students to remove their lowest summative from the gradebook would alleviate this.
I envision students being able to do this the week before finals. Before rather than after, because this will benefit students trying to decide whether to take their finals- this year, we have heard, finals can only positively impact your grade.
Or, do it after. Either way, as long as it happens. Either way, because most students will, in reality, not take their finals.
In regards to 90/10, any shift in policy takes time for students, teachers, and parents to adjust to. This could be a whole school year, because the 90/10 is a policy that has developing consequences as the year progresses.
Because of this, a sort of leniency must be granted to students.
We can’t be thrown into an experiment such as the 90/10 and be expected to simply fend for ourselves, and then feel the full blow of our grades suffering.
As said by AHS, a “rolling gradebook records long-term progress as the year goes on, not just short-term achievement in each quarter”.
Being able to drop the lowest summative grade in one’s gradebook would allow students to drop a low grade from an earlier quarter, which not only is weighing them down, but also represents a period of low achievement that may have been mastered by the end of the year.
This decision would greatly benefit all students, while also upholding the values and principles of education that AHS believes in.
