WOODBURY — In this school year that is new in so many ways, a new grading system comes along with it.

The system is called rolling grades — students who have missing grades or assignments from September will still be able to turn them in months later for a grade. Each quarter, a picture is taken of students’ current grades and sent to parents, but the grade will continue to change. 

Assistant principal Taryn Fernandez said that the concept of rolling grades has been talked about for the past four years at the department chair level and with a committee of teachers. The school made the decision this year because of the impact distance learning had when it began in March of last year.

Also, quarter-ending dates made high demands on students and teachers. Students were rushing to turn assignments in, and teachers were rushing to grade assignments before the quarter ended. The feedback from students and parents helped make rolling grades possible. 

The grading system gives a better understanding to students of their current academic standing. In PowerSchool, the Y1 grade shows an average of all assignments in the course. The start of each new quarter can be seen as a fresh start — students won’t be stuck with a low quarter grade that weighs down the year-long average. With rolling grades, teachers are now able to time their assessments by the unit of study instead of quarter-end dates. 

“I do like the new grading system,” Nonnewaug student Megi Gorka said. “It gives people more time for the assignments and everyone won’t be as stressed out.”

Gorka said she’d be in favor of keeping this system after this year.

“It would be nice if they used this for next year,” Gorka said. “I feel like it’ll make everyone’s lives easier.”

Luckily for Gorka and everyone else who likes rolling grades, this system will still continue to be used next year, Fernandez said.