Illinois Valley Times

Changes could soon be coming to the way Minooka students in grades 3-8 are graded as members of the Board of Education consider making an adjustment in the fall.

The district's grading scale has been a topic of discussion for a few months. Dr. Kathleen Cheshareck, the district's interim Chief Academic Officer, discussed some of the findings and reasons for looking into making the adjustment.

"Some of the points brought up were that, you know, typically parents will voice concerns about the current scale, that it is the high expectations that students are feeling anxiety and stress in order to meet that level," Cheshareck said during the January 24 meeting.  "In order to have, for example, an A in a class that they're working extremely hard and they're they're not finding success, or that they're just missing by a matter of less than a point and they're having their emotional well-being is a concern. So those concerns come up, I would say, regularly."

The board has looked at the districts grading scale and looked at those of neighboring school districts. All of the local districts including Minooka High School use a ten point grading scale. That means scores from 100%-90% are in the A range, 89%-80% is B, 79%-70% is C, 69%-60% is D, and anything 59% or below is an F.

Cheshareck said the education committee hasn't looked at the grading scale in about seven years, and after doing so recently made a recommendation to the board to shift to that grading scale.

About 23 people including parents, teachers, and administration were a part of the committee. The board unanimously voted in favor of adopting the ten point grading scale in the 2023-2024 school year.