Many schools (from elementary to college) have resorted to online classes in fear of the highly contagious COVID-19. And the transition left many people wondering: how would the grading system work? 

Systems such as credit/no credit, pass or fail, and letter grades have been modified as school environments changed.

“Since the departments (of education) had different policies to begin with, I think the school can encourage reformed grading policies while leaving the details up to each department. Also, I don’t quite support a radical change, such as stepping away from the A-F system,” said Cassy Ying (21’).

If there would be a reformation of the grading system, the change would be difficult to be enforced in the same way to all departments in an equal manner. There would also be the question of whether the changes made for each department were just or not. 

“I think that we should allow for retakes to a certain extent, so that if students don’t pass, we’re still allowing them the opportunity to master their knowledge,” said Anonymous, AV teacher.

There are various pros and cons of allowing retakes in the grading system, including the extra workload that would be put on the teachers. Students may face a lack of motivation or arguments on the usefulness of retakes. 

Are retakes really helping students “master their knowledge”?

“There’s a grading scale that most departments have adopted…the systems that we used to assess our students, I feel like have been completely changed as a result of distance learning. Because when I look at the social studies department, we’ve completely changed the content that we cover, we had to alter our curriculum because we’re seeing students 50% as much. I have seen all of those educators really change the way that they’re assessing students, while the grading scale might not have changed. I think the way in which students are assessed has drastically changed,” said AP World History teacher Delise Anderson.

Based on fluctuating coronavirus trends, there has been no sight of an end to online learning. As for what happens to grading systems in the future, it all depends on how the deadly pandemic progresses.