The following article was published as a part of The Seminole’s 2014 April Fool’s issue! The information, quotations, and other content is completely fictitious and should not be considered a true representation of the school, the administration, or other governing entities.
As a result of recent trends in grades at Seminole High School, the school will stop rounding grades this semester. This means that at the end of the semester, grades that are 0.5 points away from an A, B, C, or even D, will not be rounded and will remain as they are.
After Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (a set of new academic standards) came into effect recently, Seminole High School, along with other high schools around the state, has made plans not to round student grades. Students with an 89.6 in AP Calculus BC will no longer receive an A for their grade. The rule is that the grade must be a 90.0 or above, an 80.0 and above, etc.
Starting with the class of 2016, all grades, even past years’ grades, will be changed. Seminole High plans on allowing grades to be rounded for the third quarter of this year, not for the fourth quarter. At the end of the quarter, students’ grades will not be rounded. Additionally, once the semester grade is calculated, the grade will not be rounded. This may prevent students from receiving an A on their high school transcripts.
Besides conforming to the educational standards around the US, Seminole High plans on ending the rounding of grades because it feels as if the rounded grades are not an accurate reflection of the student’s academic achievement. Some students earn 90s and SCPS felt that it wouldn’t be fair to have someone who earned an 89.5 have his grade rounded to a 90.0.
Junior Joey Castillo said, “A 90.0 and above is a true A. An 89.9 is not a true A. This seems fair to me.”
Many other states do not allow grade rounding because they don’t feel that it is fair to enhance a grade that is not what the student earned. They also feel that rounding grades to give students a higher grade sets students for failure. Their reasoning is students may rely on teachers giving them boosts that aren’t required, causing students not to try as hard to have the grade that will be rounded.
Sophomore Lindsey Realm said, “This isn’t good for anyone. Teachers make grading errors sometimes, and sometimes the amount of work students put in the class isn’t accurately reflected by their grade.”
SHS also wants to toughen academic standards because many schools have grading scales that are much higher than Seminole High’s. In other states, some schools consider an A to be only 93 or higher.
Sophomore Neil Shaun said, “This will ruin my grades. Last quarter in chemistry I got an 89.6. This class was hard, and I felt like I deserved an A not a B. Rounding the grades saved my life last year.”