Greenhills has decided to move away from the traditional format of marking periods to a semester based system beginning this school year. Most students have only known marking periods while at Greenhills. With a new change in the academic system, the school hopes to decrease students’ stress levels.
Deano Smith, worked previously as the dean of academics. Both the faculty and their respective departments have worked over the past years to address the schools grading and policies to ensure students learn to their best abilities.
“Our goal is to make sure students learn as in depth as possible and to make sure that their experience in our school is enjoyable,” said Smith. “One of the main concerns of faculty members were that students were feeling locked in. The first marking period is normally spent helping students to adapt to their new environment and by the time it ends you only have a couple of assignments leaving no room for improvement.”
For years teachers have always said that marking period grades are just check in grades students should not feel paranoid, yet the anxiety levels are still high. Alexandra Dasilva ‘26 shares her feelings on the shift to semesters.
“In the beginning of last year I had a lot of trouble adjusting to classes and how teachers graded,” said Dasilva. “Immediately after the first couple weeks we would have a marking period report and it was such a stressful time for me.”
With marking periods gone, Dasiliva feels as if she has more freedom to learn.
“Now I have time to adapt to school properly without receiving a grade set in paper. This allows me to not feel as stressed on grades as the school year starts and more focused on how to learn.”
Adjusting to school is difficult for everyone. School Counselor Heidi Butz anticipates a change in the overall well being of students during this transition.
“Students’ well being was absolutely considered and we support these changes primarily because with this new system there is a longer runway for improvement and academic growth,” said Butz.
With a new system in place, the school hopes to reduce the stress students feel and make adjusting to classes an easier process.
“We hope the worry that students have about the implications of each individual assessment will be reduced,” said Butz. “Without marking periods the school hopes students will develop a new mindset of improvement and academic growth.”
Previously, marking periods resulted in students having a fixed mindset. They were more likely to give up if they were not getting the grade they wished for,” said Butz. “This longer period of time fosters more of a growth mindset for learning and improving.”
While some students believe this change is for the best, others disagree.
“The problem with having no marking periods is that some teachers don’t update grades in Gryphon,” said Manya Tijoriwala ‘26. “If some teachers aren’t updating grades, I won’t be able to see where I am in the class.”
While students will no longer have report cards for their grades, they will still receive feedback from teachers.
“Although grades will not be available, we believe it is still important for students to receive feedback from their teachers through comments and parent teacher conferences,” said Smith. “This way students will understand there is always a next step and a chance to improve.”
The removal of marking periods allows teachers to expand on topics and not rush through them.
“One of the unique things about Greenhills is that teachers teach to their subject area and to their passions,” said Smith. “With semesters teachers have more flexibility to teach differently and by removing that artificial barrier of marking period one, and giving the full semesters students and teachers we allow for a better way of learning.”