This year, quarterly grades have been removed, leaving only  semester grades in Infinite Campus. This has left people wondering why the change was made. 

 “This makes assignments equally weighted over the course of the semester and so you end up with a fairer grade and a better grade representation of what the student knows and is able to do and understand,” David Brothers director of curriculum and assessment said.

After figuring out that this was harming students’ grades, Brothers, teachers and team members set up a focus group. They asked for feedback about changing North’s 80% to 20% weighted grades to 90% semester grade and 10% final exam grade. 

“For students, that for whatever reason the first quarter didn’t go so well, having grades calculated all semester long actually helps their grade,” Brothers said.

 Now having this permanent upgrade to the grading system, Brothers believes that this change will improve students’ grades. It will also give the students who don’t have a great first quarter the ability to bounce back.

“I love that there are no quarters anymore,” junior Sarah Moutray said. “If you bomb the first test of the semester, it won’t matter as much in the long run because you’ll be taking plenty more tests to distribute the bad score.”