BENTONVILLE — Bentonvile High School students could have a different grading schedule next year if a recommendation from the district’s Curriculum Committee passes through the Policy Committee and is approved by the School Board.
The high school breaks the grading year into four quarters and two semesters. Grades for each class are determined by the grade average from the two quarters making up the semester and an end-of-semester exam.
Each quarter in a semester equals 40 percent of a student’s semester grade. The end-of-semester exam is worth 20 percent.
“We are very interested in getting rid of the first and third quarter grade marks,” said Kim Garrett, Bentonville High School principal. “It would look more like a college.”
AT A GLANCE
Grading Schedule
The district’s Curriculum Committee recommended Bentonville High School Principal Kim Garrett move forward with a proposal to change the school’s grading schedule. Garrett will need a recommendation from the Policy Committee before bringing the change before the Bentonville School Board. A timeline to review the proposal was not set.
Source: Staff Report
Garrett’s proposal is to remove the quarter grade percentages and have each semester worth 80 percent and the end-of-semester exam worth 20 percent.
Removing quarter grades could better reflect student learning, Garrett said.
Parents will still receive a quarter grade report, but the grades will not be averaged into the semester grade, if approved.
“I think it would be better because kids could get their grade up if they wanted to,” Molly Sisemore, a junior at the high school, said.
Sisemore’s friend, Ali Robinson, disagreed.
“I think it would be bad because students may not push themselves as hard,” Robinson, also a junior, said.
The Curriculum Committee also recommended the board approve the addition of Web Design I, Web Design II, fundamentals of television and workplace readiness into the high school class schedule.