For everyone currently at the high school, you’ve likely noticed that on your high school transcript you receive two grades in each class you take, one from the first semester and the other from the second. Typically, students who want a fresh start for their grades find this beneficial because it allows them to start off the third quarter knowing that the prior semester is already set in stone. Though for students who do poorly in one quarter and are unable to raise that grade with the subsequent grade, the semester grade can be aggravating. However, there’s good news if you find yourself like one of those students: starting next school year, Mentor High School will be converting to a whole-year/cumulative transcript grade.
Benefits
In theory this is beneficial by allowing you to take the whole year to reach the best grade you can. Assuming you are able to reach a good grade, this looks better to colleges because they can only evaluate what’s on your transcript. This means no pesky 3rd quarter ‘C’ can try and greatly disrupt your grade. Additionally, having a combined grade should help with ease for colleges that are looking at your transcript. With everything being far more condensed, it’s more presentable and also comparable to other schools in Northeast Ohio. Furthermore, a cumulative grade can feel much more rewarding once you reach the end of the year because it shows that you worked hard to be consistent and good.
Downsides
While cumulative grading proves useful to students who do poorly in later quarters it does have its downfalls if your grade drops at the start of the year. Assuming you have a C in the first quarter it’s very difficult to raise your grade again. While technically it’s the same no matter what quarter you do worst in it’s more diminishing when you start with a low grade. If you can foresee this being an issue, it’s recommended you take additional support programs like tutoring, so you have time to raise your grade again.
Assessing Your Work
Having a cumulative grade tends to make it easier to assess your overall work. This includes not only colleges as mentioned above but also employers and internship programs. People can use a cumulative grade to easily compare you with other students; compare that to having two grades, which have the potential to be a more difficult evaluation, and if the person reading your transcript is lazy, they may just glance it over rather than actually giving you a fair shot. Adding on, this system of grading can help you find what work fits you best. When looking at a cumulative grade you can see which classes you do best in overall, from there you can use that information to find out things your good at which you previously might not have thought about. Comparatively, in the old system you might hone in on one specific semester grade and give yourself an unfair evaluation because you didn’t think about your overall performance.
Further Changes
While nothing is confirmed, some people at Mentor have expressed that they’d like to see the school make use of suffix grading. Suffix grading is when you’re given grades like A- or C+ instead of the standard A and C. Suffix grading is good for further establishing where you actually sit in terms of your grade. For example, in the current system there’s no distinction between an 87% and an 81% once it’s on your transcript. This can make it harder for you to appear better as a student when you apply to a school if you sit on the higher end of your grade. Comparatively, the typical system is very beneficial if your grade is just above the cutoff. Currently it doesn’t appear that there are any plans to change to the suffix system, but if it sounds appealing to you, you can try to make that change by contacting the school administrator.
