By Josh Jordan

Juniors, sophomores, and freshman are all curious about the new grading system for next year. The new system grading system is called, EBR otherwise known as Evidence-Based Reporting. But one big question for students is “what is EBR?”  Assistant Principal Matt Thede said EBR is ”where teachers collect and use a body of evidence to determine student achievement towards a set of standards.”

To simplify, it means teachers will measure students based on their knowledge, and how well they grasp the concepts of the class. The reasoning behind changing the grading system is to set a new precedent in our building of how teachers, teach, and for grades to reflect actual learning, not a “big melting pot of things” as Thede phrases it. Another reason is because there is no research supporting the current grading method, and because of this, other schools have already switched to different grading methods. Mount Vernon is the last school in our area to move away from the traditional grading system.

The idea for a new grading system has been in the making for roughly four years by both administrators and teachers. The idea to switch to EBR, however, was presented to the administration when they visited Adlai Stevenson High School outside of Chicago. There they saw the system and thought it was the best option to change our current system to, because it focused more on the students and not the points.     

But what does this mean for the students in this new grading system? It means students will need to prove to their teacher that they actually know the content, and students will not be able to rely on their homework points to pull them through the class. Instead students will have to do the homework for practice so they will do well on the test, as homework was originally designed for.

Junior Elijah Steiner said “…you can’t be lazy, or not do homework even if you think you know the material because it will affect you.”

Sophomore Henry Maddock feels “ It might be easier for incoming high school students, but in my opinion it might not be so effective for the current classes.”

What do some students think about this change in curriculum? Maddock said, “ I just think the old system is better, it personally made me try harder.”

“It’s good and bad, but if kids don’t understand it and are too scared to get help, they are screwed, so it makes kids come out of their shell and ask for help,” Steiner said.

For the teachers the curriculum change will allow them to be able to more accurately track the progress of the students and be able to tell what they need to teach or re-teach. It also gives the teachers, and later educators, an accurate account of what the student knows and what they might need to reiterate, instead of the current system, in which the teacher can only guess what the student may or may not be proficient in.

One of the major questions that students have is, how will this affect their future? To start, students will not have to worry about the effect in college. Since a letter grade will be given, colleges will have no issues nor will this limit the colleges you can attend. Another impact on the student’s future is, this new system will better prepare students for a higher education and for the transition into the real world.

In the end, this change will hopefully bring about a new age of teaching at Mount Vernon High School. Teaching will be focused more about individual knowledge than gaining points for a grade. This new change will hopefully be here to stay and will prepare the students at MVHS to transition into the real world.

The high school will hold its second parent forum this next Monday, March 26 at 7 p.m. in the Commons.  Assistant Principal Matt Thede will go through an overview of EBR and answer any questions.