Caption: Cintia Kuhn submits midterm grades in her office for all the teachers to review. [by Valentina Porto]
By Valentina Porto
The first quarter midterm grades for all PACA students were made available to families on Monday, September 8, providing an opportunity for students to reflect on their current academic efforts and to assess the need for additional support for those who are struggling in their classes.
When midterms approach, many are worried about their performance. Every year, midterms are distributed at the midpoint of each of the four quarters. It is not until the end of those quarters when formal and permanent grades are awarded to each student. The mid-quarter grades are not permanent and give students a chance to improve their grades for the last half of each quarter. This year, those dates might fall close to the beginning of the month in which they occur, like September and November and at the end of months in February and April.
PACA’s high school counselor, Mindy Swisher and her husband, the eighth grade Bible teacher, Lucas Ham Swisher explained in more detail why they are important for students.
“It’s a great opportunity to know where you’re at. It gives students a chance for transformation and improvement,” said Mrs. Swisher.
“They get their attention but aren’t permanent,” said Mr.Ham.
Since these grades are not a permanent record at the time they are given, they are mainly used to give students some information on how they have been doing for the first half of each quarter of the semester.
Teachers see it as an opportunity for students to catch up with their late work and tp help them understand whether they are on the right track or not. But there has been some controversy whether midterms are in fact useful.
Bruna Marujo, a 9th grade student, has a very distinct opinion on the topic.
“Due to many different situations, I didn’t do so well in some midterms. Most of the time it’s some misunderstanding or late assignment. It wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t affect the grade average so much,” she said.
Like Marujo, students don’t quite understand the difference between teachers updating plus portals weekly instead of doing so whenever midterms are due.
“If they hand out graded papers every day, what’s the issue in putting it in their grade book?” said Bruna Marujo.
This is Mindy Swisher’s thoughts on this idea.
“Parent expectations are usually different from school expectations. What might be a good grade for one student might not be for another,” said Mrs. Swisher.
Grades will continue to be updated by teachers throughout the quarter, but the official first quarter grades will only be finalized once the quarter ends on October 2.
Families will then have the chance to engage more directly with the school through the first parent/teacher/student conferences of the year, on October 9–10. These conferences provide an important opportunity for parents and students to sit down with teachers and discuss their child’s progress in more detail.
