Starting this year, the Rockwood School District put in place a system of grading in which quarters are no longer used mid-semester.

According to head principle John Shaugnessy, “the system was put in place in order to support the philosophy of grading that learning is ongoing, and so too should be the grading process.”

Decided upon by a committee under the direction of John Wipke, Director of Secondary Education, the system was launched in order to simulate a feeling that learning is an ongoing process rather than a start-stop, deadline-oriented practice.

Considering the fact that the policy is new this year, students of the Rockwood School District are serving as guinea pigs in the implication of the system. The reaction to the system without quarters varies among students.

“The semester grades are the important ones. They are the grades that go to college,” senior Maddie Murphy said. “All quarter grades ever did was freak out parents.”

While many students are in agreement with the reasons for the new system, other students are not so keen on the idea.

“The breakup of grades over quarters was a good grade cushion,” sophomore Luke Neise said. “If you do really well first quarter and not so hot the next, the grades from your first quarter cushion the damage.”