Block to traditional and a New Grading Scale Greeted Students this Year
Students present in science class.
“I actually really like it. At first I didn’t think I would like the 8 periods just because it seemed like a really long day, but I kind of have grown to like it more because the day kinda fly’s by when you’re switching through all these classes.” said Sophomore Brady Rehorst.
After two years of being a block schedule, Stevens reverted to an eight class a day schedule again. Eight period days gives you access to all your teachers every day and creates a stronger class connection seeing them every day. Block scheduling does seem more convenient for classes like science where you need more time to complete a lab or for gym when you want to get a longer work out in. “I mean its nice having shorter periods when its classes you don’t like and then when its something like weights, I’d like to have a little more, but it’s nice overall.” said Sophomore Conner McLaughin.
The other big change this year was the move to a ten-point grading scale. For years Stevens has worked off of a seven-point grading scale, but this year the entire district switched to ten-points when the School Board voted in February to move everyone.
“The ten point grading scale is awesome because it just makes everything so much easier and it makes way more sense.” said Rehorst. Junior Austin Derby agreed, “I’d say the grading scale is pretty nice because I didn’t even know what the B was, but I can know where each grade is and what grade I’m gonna get.”
A 10-point grading scale means that a student moves into the “A” range with a 90%, a “B” range with an 80%, and so on.