The Kings Local School District, changed the grading system this year. The old grading system used letter grades but now it has been changed to percentages. Now that it is an exact percentage, the exam scores and semester grades affect a student’s GPA, making it a lot more accurate. This new grading system wasn’t made clear to students before it changed.

The new grading system caused some confusion. Students’ noticed their grades were worse than previous years. King’s sophomore, Kaylee Hutzel says her GPA dropped because she didn’t realize how high she really needed to keep that quarter grade. With the new system, quarter grades have a bigger impact at the end of the semester.

The new grading system is the same system used in college. The grade is more true to what a student earned. College professors don’t usually round either. A King’s High School alumni, John Onega says, “In college your grades never get rounded and this new system might actually help students understand how to work more for a grade.” Administration wants students to understand points aren’t meant to be handed to them and a change like this can seem more like a preparatory step.

The old system used solid letter grades and staff and administration felt it was harder to see the true progress that way. Doug Leist, principal at Kings High School’s states, “I think because of the times we had to make changes. We needed a system that reflects what the students know.” Now the grade a student gets that semester is the exact percentage that is going to count.

This grading system will make it a lot easier for students to transfer from school to school because the percent system is standard state wide. The administration is pretty happy with this new system and it stands as of right now.