A week before the end of the most recent progress period, I noticed I could view the grades for my homework, quizzes and tests for my Spanish class on MyGDS. After investigating the website and calculating my projected grade, I was surprised to see I had a lower average in the class than I thought. Although my major exam and homework grades were up to my typical standards, I needed to improve my quiz grades. In the limited time before progress reports came out, I was able to focus on preparation for daily quizzes and improve my grade to where I was satisfied.
In my previous experience, teachers could only return assignment grades on paper, by email or through websites such as Google Classroom as they were completed. However, my Spanish teacher explained that teachers now have the option to return assignments and leave comments on MyGDS, and he would be using this new feature from now on. Parents do not have access to the grades, and students can choose not to check them. The grade report on MyGDS consists of the averages of your quiz, major assessment and homework grades as three separate categories. It does not show your cumulative grade in a class.
Transcripts come out at GDS on a quarterly basis—a final grade report is released at the end of each semester, and a progress report comes out in the middle of each semester. Implementing the MyGDS grading system similar to that of my Spanish class would require teachers to post grades and comments directly on the website without revealing the student’s cumulative grades. Nearly every class I’m in has a different way of returning grades, which fails to deliver many students’ preference for a consistent way to get feedback.
In 2022, the Student Staff Council (SSC) led an initiative to gauge interest in a live grading system that posted students’ cumulative grades in their classes. In the email announcing the initiative, it was made clear that those grades would be visible to parents. “The form we sent out was very polarized—about 30 percent of the students wanted it, 30 percent did not and the rest did not care,” SSC representative senior Rand Poellnitz said. For me, the polarizing element of the grading system presented by the SSC was the intensity of parents having access to your cumulative grade at all times. The grading system that a few GDS teachers already use is a compromise; students can access their grades and feedback on individual assignments consolidated in one place, unlike what the typical live grading model entails.
Many students—including me—feel anxious and overwhelmed when our quarterly grades are released because often teachers are unable to tell us our grades beforehand. The new grading system through MyGDS would largely alleviate this unnecessary anxiety caused by the ambiguity of waiting months to see our transcripts. On top of that, I’ve noticed that the teachers I have who use this system tend to return assignments faster than teachers who don’t.
Junior Izzie Hsu is currently studying in Italy through the Student Year Abroad program, and her Italian school uses a grading system similar to the optional MyGDS system. “We receive feedback on everything quickly, allowing us to understand our strengths and areas that need improvement,” she said. “Students even use their live grades to motivate them in school because they can clearly see what areas they need to focus on in each class.” Hsu also noticed that students within the program were generally more motivated to stay on top of their work compared to what she experienced at GDS.
Blackbaud, the website platform for MyGDS, already has an accessible live grading option built into it. Along with decreasing anxiety for students, the system would hardly be a burden to teachers. “Practically, it would not be particularly demanding for teachers to implement this new system. It’s only a matter of enabling that within the website,” Hsu said. Despite the new system’s benefits, I have noticed through the classes I’m in and conversations with other students very few GDS teachers choose to use it.
How we perform in a course should not be a mystery that we discover only when our report cards are released. Students are already consistently stressed about their grades and our current system is inefficient and disorganized. Waiting for our grades to come out at the end of each quarter is an antiquated model that GDS teachers have the ability to improve.