Rolling Grade Book Receives Mixed Reviews at Scarsdale High School

During the 2023-2024 academic year, Scarsdale High School experimented with a significant change in its grading system: the rolling grade book. This approach provided a continuous and cumulative record of students’ academic performance throughout the year, replacing the traditional quarter system. Above all else, its main goal was to reduce stress for the students. While educators and administrators hoped this change would enhance the learning experience, it's not clear that the new system met its goals.

Now that the school year has ended, we got feedback from parents, students and the guidance department on this new evaluation system.

Here are some general complaints we heard:

Students complained that teachers weren’t retuning their tests and papers in a timely manner. Some weren’t even given their tests or papers back before their next assignment was due barring them from learning and growing from the previous assignment before the new assignment was due. Many felt that the teachers didn’t feel pressure to complete the grading, because grades were rolling and they didn’t need to have grades calculated by the end of the quarter.

Students also complained that instead of having quarterly tests and papers in order to garner a quarterly grade, teachers were pushing quizzes and assignments off until later (again because they felt like they had time because grades were rolling). Others said the fourth quarter was unusually stressful because there were many end of year assignments that possibly weren’t given earlier in the year. This also made the end of third quarter and all of fourth quarter matter more because so many assignments were due toward the end of the school year.

Eian Tsou, who will enter his senior year at SHS in September spoke to his fellow students and here is what he heard.

“An advantage is that it’s very easy to calculate your grade at any given time, rather than guessing how much an assignment or exam will be weighted within a quarter,” Isaac Tiomkin, a rising senior, said. “Frankly, I believe that it’s [the rolling grade book] over-hated. The system doesn’t make or break someone’s grade but stresses different things instead. For that reason, I would like to keep the rolling grade book.”

Yet, Isaac acknowledged the potential downside as well.

“I feel that the rolling grade book can be both more and less stressful at times… it’s more difficult to change your grade due to the system’s cumulative nature. If I’m already performing well in a class, I feel less stressed and vice versa.”

Trisha Viswanathan, a graduate of the class of 2024, corroborates this negative feeling.

“I would get rid of the rolling grade book and go back to the traditional style… If I messed up at the beginning of the year, it seemed harder to pull myself back up which was very discouraging… Another thing I don’t like about the rolling grade book is it doesn’t really show your grade for the quarter. This becomes a problem, especially with… submitting first-semester grades to colleges. If I get a B first quarter and an A second quarter, it may be displayed as a B+ for the second quarter, making it seem like less progress was made.”

Layla Tan, a rising junior, agreed with Trisha’s concluding notion.

“Although this model of grading helps maintain your grade, it doesn’t reflect much of the student’s improvement throughout the year. The individual assignment grades I received in my English class significantly improved, but my efforts weren’t shown on my report card due to more mediocre grades from the first few months.”

Some were indifferent:

“The rolling grade book has not impacted my study habits nor has it had any effect on my academic performance,” commented William Mishra, a rising senior. “I found it equally as stressful as the traditional grading system. Regardless of the system, the amount of work that you’re required to do overall does not change.”

Despite this, William still advocated for the continuation of the rolling grade book. “It’s easier to keep track of my overall grade,” he concluded.

Finally, Scarsdale High School’s Director of Counseling, Oren Iosepovici had this to say in May 2024.

“Over the past several years, the work of our Assessment Committee has focused on progressive grading practices, and we believe this cumulative grading policy will promote a growth mindset for our students. Unlike the former quarterly system, in a rolling gradebook percentages will no longer be assigned to each marking period, and students’ grades will be reflective of what they have achieved through any given moment during the school year. Therefore, each report card grade reflects student performance from the beginning of the year until the end of that quarter.

This should have the effect of minimizing the impact of a single assessment score on a student’s overall grade and their self-perception of their performance in a given class. The rolling gradebook also aligns with our Profile of a Graduate, specifically the outcomes in the “Lifelong Learner” category. The Assessment Committee will determine metrics of effectiveness to help us decide whether we will keep the rolling gradebook as a permanent academic policy.

To that end, the administration surveyed faculty, students, and parents, at the end of the third quarter to gather some feedback about the rolling gradebook thus far. I believe they have already communicated some of that feedback to student leaders and will be doing so with the larger faculty at a meeting tomorrow afternoon. The results demonstrated support for the rolling gradebook, and we will continue with that for the 24-24 academic year.”

As administrators reflect on the implementation of the rolling grade book, the mixed reactions from students highlight both its strengths and areas for improvement. This ongoing dialogue should help the deans and faculty to refine the grading policy to best support the needs of all students.

Do you have thoughts about the Rolling Grade Book? Share them in the comments section below: