Nearly Halfway Through the School Year, Students and Faculty Reflect on New Grading Policy

The new year’s arrival marks four months of a revamped DCPS grading policy, which introduced significant updates, including new deadlines and penalties for late work and revisions.

Now, well into the school year and directly feeling the impact of these changes, student and faculty reactions have been mixed. Before the policy changes, students had until the end of the advisory to turn in all late work and revisions. Under the new system, late work from the first half of the advisory must be submitted before progress reports. Additionally, the policy states that assignments can only be revised if a student receives a D+ or below, and revisions can only raise the grade to 75% (a C).

Glenn Starnes, DCPS Social Emotional Academic Development Strategy Senior Deputy Chief, explained in an interview with The Beacon that, “DCPS believed it was time to reflect on the grading policy.” The previous system, which was introduced during COVID-19, allowed students more time to submit work and offered generous revision grades due to the unique circumstances of the pandemic. 

At Walls, many faculty members seem to support this shift. Kathryn Moore, the 9th-grade counselor, said, “I think it’s great [the midpoint deadline] because what was happening was a lot of students were waiting until the very end to submit a huge chunk of work, which wasn’t fair to the teachers, or to other students.” She added, “Why should you turn in something from the second week of school at the very end of the term? That doesn’t make sense.” Laura Webster, who teaches Humanities I and IV, agreed, stating, “It could be really overwhelming having to put everything in at the last minute. This just makes it more manageable for us.”

Some students also see the benefits of the policy. Soren Nguyen (‘27) said, “It just wasn’t fair that kids who were doing all their work on time were getting the same grade as kids who kept submitting late work.” He continued, “I think the change is overall good.” Nolan Smith (‘27) agreed, explaining, “It’s nice that there are finally consequences to submitting late work. I think it incentivizes students to turn things in on time, and it puts less pressure on the teachers.”

However, some students have a different perspective. Adeline King (‘28) said, “I mean, it’s nice that there are differences in grades for people who turn in their work on time versus people who turn it in late, but I think the grade dropping a letter each day is a little much.” She added, “I think that this makes people just not want to turn in their work at all after a certain point, because you’ll just get a 63% (F) on it.”

Some of King’s concerns about excessive grade drops, however, have not materialized. Joey Zara, a statistics teacher, explained, “Most students turn in their work on time, and within a few days.” He continued, “Students here are so focused on grades that even the 10% penalty is usually enough to deter them from submitting late work regularly, which is something that I think needs to change—the mindset of these students.”

Another major change involves limiting revisions. Under the new policy, students cannot revise work that received a grade above 75%, or a C. Ms. Moore was less enthusiastic about this change, saying, “I like the policy of revising work… but I’d have to think a little bit more about whether having the maximum of a C being the best is the right approach. I’m not sure what the rationale was behind setting a C as the highest possible revision grade.”

Some students are more opposed to the new policy. Porter Jackson (‘28) said, “I think it’s not the best choice when it comes to revising, because for me, that makes me just not want to revise my work because of how low the difference would be.”

Pablo Marin-Hormigo (‘26) agreed, saying, “I think the whole revision policy is bad. I think it makes it a lot harder for students to get their grades up and maintain high grades.” He continued, “However, I do think maybe it’s more motivating for students to do well.”

Mr. Zara had a different perspective. He said, “I think the policy is great. So many students have this mindset that even an 80% is a bad grade when, in reality, it’s great. The work here is very challenging, especially compared to other schools, and a B is a good grade. I hope the policy will help students realize how inflated their perceptions of grades are, to the point where a 4.0 is viewed as the standard.” He added, “So many kids have this idea that if they get a B, they're dumb, when that’s not the case at all. Hopefully, the policy helps students understand what a good and not-so-good grade is, especially at this school.”

The new grading policy has certainly affected student mindsets, but most teachers and students agree that there have been no significant changes to grades yet. Mr. Zara said, “I haven’t noticed any particular change in grades yet, and I don’t think I will.” Ms. Webster noted, “There have not been any significant changes in grades in my students, and overall, the policy has had little effect on the grades of my class.” Marin-Hormigo agreed, saying, “My grades haven’t changed, but someone who tends to submit work late or rely on revisions probably had a rougher start to the year.” Ms. Moore simply said, “We will have to wait and see, to compare with last year.”