The Pembroke School District introduced a Competency-Based Grading (CBG) system starting in the 2018-19 school year. Administration believes the new grading system will help students reach their learning goals and better understand the content taught in classrooms.

A four-point grading system replaced the former 100-point scale. The new grading system ranges from 0, which indicates “Insufficient Evidence” to 4, or “Competency with Distinction.”  

At PA, a 2 (“Basic Competence”) is required to pass the class.

The overall class grade is determined by the mode, or the most frequently occurring grade. However, the overall grade is holistic, meaning after each competency is determined, the grades are averaged.

In other words, while teachers cannot assign anything other than whole numbers for a formative and summative assignment, the overall class grade can include a decimal.

PA administration believes that the four-point grading system is in the best interest of the students. It introduces a new way of learning that should prove more beneficial than the previous system.

“I absolutely think it’s good for students, otherwise we would not have implemented it,” said headmaster Mr. Famulari. “It is a far better and more consistent communicator of student learning. There is a substantial benefit for switching our grading to the four-point scale and student information system to Alma. The prior tools in both regards were antiquated and did a disservice to the user.”

However, teachers have to adjust their teaching methods to comply with the new grading system, changing rubrics and tests.  

“Just today, I had two teachers tell me individually that they love this system, but I know that is not a universal opinion,” said director of curriculum Mr. Morris. “It is a fundamental shift and that shift will take us as an organization and as individuals a long time to get through.”

The transition from the old grading system to the new grading system has presented some difficulties to teachers and students alike. Many people still lack an understanding of CBG, and the conversion from the 100-point system to four-point is still under construction.

Seniors, in particular, are worried about the new grading system because their transcripts require grade conversion, and there has been a delay in getting their information out to colleges for early action decisions.

“They are changing all our previous grades from the previous years,” said senior Katelyn Young. “It’s going to mess up the class rank and GPA. Everything that I am reporting to colleges could be totally wrong.”

Administration is urging students to be patient.

“For underclassmen, many are already familiar with a four-point scale and so this transition represents little change for them,” said Mr. Morris, who previously taught a Three Rivers Middle School, where they’ve already adopted CBG. “Unfortunately, there is little I can say to convince students not to be anxious until Alma completes the conversion of historical grades, other than to ask them to be patient and to trust that we want to get it right.”