To round or not to round? Both students and teachers are bothered by the seemingly troublesome issue of border grades.
Unbeknownst to some, the district has a distinct policy on grades, which does not include rounding. The district says that a grade does not include the 0.5 percent below it.  For example, if a student has anything below a 90 percent, it is a B according to Parkway. Although, many students and teachers have different views on this principle.
History teacher Mrs. Alison Taylor uses a blend of objectivity and emotions to determine when to or when not to round a student’s grade.
“Teaching should be as objective as possible, and I try to do that, but when a kid is close on a grade the first question I start asking is, do they deserve to have the benefit of the doubt?’” Taylor said. “If it’s somebody who’s disruptive and is not with me during lectures and doesn’t seem to care, I don’t feel like I need to round their grade.  The key is that the teacher needs to make sure that the student gets the grade they deserve, and if that’s the one they want, great.”

Junior Shannon Long has been on the other side of that grading philosophy.
“I was extremely close to a B in an honors class. Right after the final my grade dropped to a 79.4, and after having a good grade the rest of the semester, my teacher told me [he/she] didn’t think I deserved the rounded grade,” Long said.
Long feels strongly for a change from the tight Parkway grading policy.
“I think a final grade should be a decision between the teacher and the student. Parkway as a whole is too broad to judge what someone deserves, because grades can have a big impact on someone’s life and a percentage doesn’t necessarily reflect all of the work put in,” Long said. “Teachers should be able to use their judgment and be generous with their grading because I think they would be surprised by how much students really do care, even those who seem checked out.”
Junior Tyler Musgrove echoed Long’s opinion on a more flexible grading scale for those who work hard.
“If the teachers see you working as hard as you can and are on a close border of a higher grade, they should round up as a way of saying, ‘Thanks for trying your hardest, here’s your reward,’” Musgrove said.
Although both students have faith in the idea of rounding grades, several teachers enact the district policy as written.
“Parkway School District Policy says that the grade is to the whole number, meaning that an A is a 90 to 100, and it says nothing about anything below a 90 is an A.  Therefore, an 89.9 is below a 90, so that is a B,” Mrs. Rebecca Orth, science teacher said.
Mr. Kevin Kloth, a first year English teacher, has a similar approach to his grading.
“My approach is I follow what the grade book sets up. Since the grade book doesn’t automatically round grades, I just try to stick to that policy,” Kloth said.
History teacher Mrs. Skylar Kim points out that while a teacher can round up a grade, it is the student who earns the grade.
“I don’t determine a student’s final grade, the student determines their final grade,” Kim said. “It can be tough for both the student and the teacher. There has to be a line between grades; otherwise we could never determine the difference between them.”
Kim said students’ grades are not the most important thing to take from a class.
“Sometimes grades aren’t always indicative of how hard a student has worked,” Kim said. “Although we have to give grades, it’s important to not place everything on a grade; we should look at other things such as hard work as well.”
While teachers and students differ on the topic of rounding grades, the one thing that is not debatable is what the teachers attempt to put first – the students.
“It upsets me personally when I know a student really worked hard for an A, and they just fall short.  It becomes an emotional thing,”Kim said. “You simply have to stick to the numbers, and they speak for themselves.  You want to help kids out but you’re not doing a kid any favors by giving them a grade that they didn’t earn.”