High school students have to complete assignments within the teachers’ posted due dates. Why aren’t teachers responsible for grading those assignments in a timely fashion? When a teacher doesn’t update the grade book, students begin to worry what their final grade might look like. When grades are not updated for weeks, it can add to the student’s stress level.

Many students at NPHS feel that if the assignment will have a large impact on your grade, you should at least be notified about it prior to PowerSchool closing for the Marking Period.  If there has been a long gap between when the assignment was turned in and when the grade is posted, students often feel helpless and anxious.

Sofia Belisario checks PowerSchool at least twice a day for any updates.

“Last marking period, I had a test in one of my classes and it was the only test that would go in the grade book. I didn’t know what I had gotten on the test until after the marking period closed. I went from having a 100 in the class to a 94. Unfortunately it was too late to ask questions about the grade I’d received because the grades were final”, she said.

Lily Pergola also feels very strongly about this topic. She expresses how frustrating it is as a senior thinking about college not to know what the final grade in a class is going to be before it is sent out.  One solution would be to institute additional “progress reports” throughout the Marking Period, to standardize the delivery of information in each class. 

Students aren’t the only ones who feel that the lack of due dates creates stress. Mr. Carell, who is a math teacher at New Providence believes that “Teachers should absolutely have a timeframe in which they return graded assignments. Not only is this healthy for teachers to not allow work to pile up, but also is healthy for the students because they would receive immediate feedback.”