To round up or down… that is the question

Yet another marking period is ending, and teachers have handed grade reports to students. Many students glance at the percentage at the bottom of their paper and accept their grade without a question. Others must still confer with teachers in order to determine whether the grade that they have on the paper should remain as it is, or if it can be rounded up.

With the end of the marking period at hand, teachers routinely face grades that are considered borderline, or within a percentage point of the next grade. Then comes the decision of deciding whether or not to round the grade up to the next grade level, or to leave it as is.

Most teachers have grade cut-off points of 59.5% for a D, 69.5% for a C, 79.5% for a B, and 89.5% for an A. For many Blazers, this small curve is enough to push their grades up.

Teachers realize, however, that there will be students who get such grades as 79.4% or something else just as close. For these students, the decision of whether to round or not depends on the teacher.

Math teacher Peter Engelmann believes that his decision is dependent on the individual class or on the students themselves. "It kind of depends on the class," he says, "If I don't have a lot of grades, I don't mind rounding up."

Engelmann does not want to be unfair to his students, however. "What I try to do for one student, I try to do for another," he says, "I usually try to give them the benefit of the doubt unless I have a reason not to."

NSL teacher Patricia Anderson agrees, "I'm concerned that they [students] do the best that they can." Anderson grades on a consistent, unvarying level of a half percentage point curve.

While many teachers try to treat every student objectively, calculus teacher Eric Walstein admits that the opinion does come into play at times when he decides a student's grade. "I think there ought to be some aspect of my professional opinion in the grade," he says.

He mentions that if he ever had to decide between two students who had the same number of points in his class, he would not mind giving them disparate grades if one worked hard and the other did not. "To me, it's perfectly reasonable that one gets and A, and one gets a B," he says.

Walstein's system of rounding depends on the distribution of grades in his classes. If there is one or two students within one point of the next grade, he will bump the grades. However, if there is another student who is also close, but is off by two points, he will not round any of the students at all.

Blazers can get upset when their grades are not ideal. Rounding seems to be a perfect answer for students whose grades are very close. But Engelmann says teachers should not pamper students too much. "I've got to put adult pressures on you . . . Sometimes teachers who seem really mean are actually helping students," he said, "Life is like that, it is very harsh."

To some teachers, the idea of rounding is not as important as the way a teacher grades. Walstein notes that it is difficult to grade in some classes such as English, where the grade is almost completely at the teacher's discretion. Even for classes that are not so fully subjective, Walstein notes problems. "One of the problems is trying to quantify something like class participation," he says, citing several examples that he has experienced.

Not just teachers fret about grades and how to round them. Students to whom the grades belong are also affected. Some students still have no idea what their teacher has decided to do with their grades.

Senior Nebyou Gennene faced a quandary last marking period when he found out about his 89.5% average in math class. Mr. Roth, his teacher, still has not decided whether or not to give Gennene an A or a B. "He said he won't give me an A, but maybe . . ." Gennene trails off. It is still indeterminate in regard to what his teacher will decide to do.

The students who have benefitted from their teachers' rounding policies, however, can breathe easier. Senior Elias Asamenew barely slipped through English with a B. "I had, like, around 78.8%," he said, "Yeah, I was happy, of course."

For them, there are no more worries. Until next quarter, that is. Then, once again, teachers go through their rounding systems as students await their grades anxiously.