The 2025-2026 school year brought many new changes to schools across the county. Most notably, a complete shift in the grading system.

Previously, a student’s higher quarter grade would be represented as the semester grade. For example, if a student earned an A first quarter and a B second quarter, their semester grade would be an A. Now, that same student that earned a 90% the first quarter, but an 80% the second, would earn the average grade of a B at 85%.

This change was needed. The clear consequence of the old ‘relaxed’ grading system is grade inflation. When a student who earns a 90% and an 80% has the same grade on a transcript as a student who earns a 97% both semesters, there is a clear problem. Grade inflation also has ripples larger than the county. Because so many students are earning high grades and inflated GPA’s, colleges aren’t nearly as impressed as they understand how easy the grading system is for students in MCPS. 

Colleges looking at applicants don’t value a student in MCPS with a 4.0, even if the student truly had A’s every quarter. This ultimately benefits lazier students while hurting nearly the entire county.  

Under the old system, students had no real incentive to actually show up or put in nearly any effort. A student who earned an A first quarter, and then didn’t show up to class at all and earned an E, will still pass the class with a C. In a county that tries to emphasize participation and attendance, how can the grading policy completely go against this belief?

Although the new grading policy will address the majority of the effort and attendance issue at WJ and across the county, I think it will need an addition. Keeping the system at solely earning an A or B will hurt a student who earned an 87% percent both quarters, for example. This will still show up as a B and look the same as a kid who earned an 80%. An obvious solution to this would be bringing back pluses and minuses. This will give report cards a more accurate representation of student performance.

Changing the MCPS grading policy is an example of fixing something that was not broken. Several students were very successful under the previous grading system. However, it still allowed for high-achieving students to separate themselves from the rest of the school population.

By rounding up to the highest quarter grade within the semester, the old grading policy allowed students to focus more on the content offered in courses and less on tracking precise point counts in Synergy. The previous grading policies were more forgiving, limiting the stress students experienced. The system of the past motivated early student effort in courses. By focusing on first quarter grades students established a strong foundation which carried them into later grading periods. 

The new grading system will create disruption and complications for upperclassmen. Their high-school transcripts will be split into two categories of grading, new vs old. This discrepancy could give the impression to college admission officers that students at the school have become lazy. This would reflect very poorly on the student and potentially diminish their attractiveness to colleges. 

Students already have loads of stress in their academic lives. They must deal with homework, extracurricular activities and preparation for standardized tests. This new grading system will introduce more stress without offering learning or engagement benefits. With the crisis in teen mental health and well being, piling on these new changes can only create harm. 

Certain critics argue that the old grading system was too lenient. They claim that the system did not allow the brightest students to shine above the rest. However, this is far from the truth. Grades are not the only way to stand out from the crowd. College admissions often look for individuals that go above and beyond just high marks. These scholars participate in internships, leadership positions, extracurricular activities and other creative pursuits. 

Changing the grading system will hurt some students without providing much benefit to others.