Edgar K12 delays action on grading

By Kevin O’Brien

A robust discussion about Edgar High School’s grading policy for dual-credit college courses concluded with no action being taken by the school board last Wednesday.

District officials went back and forth with parents Corey and Tina Higgins at the Dec. 20 school board meeting, which ended with both parties agreeing that more information is needed before a change is made. The couple first came to the board in November, and district administrator Cari Guden returned with some data for board members to consider at last week’s meeting.

The issue lies with how college- level classes are graded by the high school versus how they are graded by Northcentral Technical College (NTC). Grades are calculated on a quarterly basis at the high school, but NTC waits until the full semester is completed before assigning a grade.

At last month’s meeting, Corey Higgins said his son’s gradepoint average (GPA) dropped from 4.0 to 3.8 after he earned an A- in the first quarter and an A+ during the second quarter of his NTC trigonometry class. This would not have happened if his son attended any neighboring school district, he said, claiming that the current grading policy puts Edgar students at a disadvantage when competing for college scholarships based on GPAs.

In response, Guden showed board members information from a sociology class offered

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through NTC, which indicates that two Edgar students saw slightly higher grades under the current system, while two other students got lower grades on their high school transcript.

“It actually kind of goes either way on the different grading scales,” she said.

Guden said she’s not sure how often the district’s grading policy affects students’ GPAs, but she said it’s unlikely to change a full letter grade.

Edgar teachers who teach NTC courses must follow the college’s curriculum, which doesn’t always offer an equal number of available points in each quarter. As a result, a student who falls behind early in the class and then makes it up later will end up with a semester grade that is better than what they earned half-way through at the end of the first quarter.

“Historically, Edgar has always graded students at the quarter, and that means both grades affect the GPA here,” Guden said.

Quarterly grades are traditionally given at schools with a “true block schedule,” where students earn a half-credit every quarter, compared to schools with a traditional schedule, where it takes an entire semester to earn a half-credit, Guden said. In a block schedule, classes are 85 minutes long, versus 45 minutes in traditional schedules, she noted.

Corey Higgins insisted that UW-Stevens Point, which also offers dual-credit classes, does not issue quarter grades, but Guden said the university does, in fact, follow the quarterly system.

“Our son’s quarter grade was not on the report card last year. I showed you that,” he told Guden, who said the quarter grades from UW-SP are recorded in the high school’s system.

If the district were to change its grading policy for dual-credit classes, Guden said she would “highly recommend” waiting to implement it until the class of 2028 enters the high school as freshmen. Otherwise, it would be unfair to current high school students whose GPAs are based on the quarterly grading system.

Board member Rebecca Normington said any student trying for a perfect GPA should reasonably be expected to keep their grades up throughout each quarter.

“If the goal is to get a 4.0, you need to be getting the 4.0 grades on all the assignments that are included in that grade,” she said.

Corey Higgins agreed with Normington’s reasoning, but he still objected to the fact that his son’s performance on one test could have that great of an im-pact on his overall GPA.

“If my son was taking that same class in Marathon, he still would have kept his 4.0,” he said. “We’re disadvantaging our students is all I’m saying.”

Corey Higgins said two of his sons were deprived of the GPAs they deserved, and if the district doesn’t change the way it grades college-level courses, he’s thinking about discouraging his youngest son from taking a dual-credit class for fear of jeopardizing scholarship opportunities.

“This policy has cost both my sons a ton of money,” he said. “It’s not just my kids; it’s everybody’s kids.”

Before making any changes, Guden said she wants to see how it would affect how students earn course credits within a block schedule system. Higgins agreed that more information was needed, and the board tabled the issue until a future meeting.

In other business:

n The board approved the hiring of Betty Urbanski as the eighth-grade girls basketball coach. She previously served as the varsity girls basketball coach before retiring after the 2019-2020 season.

n Food service director Rebecca Larson gave the board an update on the district’s meals programs. She noted that the number of school breakfasts served has dropped by about 2,200 since this time last year after universal free breakfast ended. However, the number of school lunches has increased by 6,408 over last year, with as many as 710 meals served each day.

Larson also said the food service fund has developed a sizable fund balance, part of which will be used to purchase a new steam table with eight wells used to keep food hot or cold.

n Jon Trautman, an accountant at CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, presented the district’s 2022-2023 audit results, reviewing the various year-end account balances and making some recommendations on the district’s accounting practices. The district’s overall fund balance dropped by $28,000 during the last fiscal year, and the amount as of June 30 was below what is required to avoid the need for short-term borrowing, he said.

“That’s not unusual. That’s just the way it is in Wisconsin school districts,” he said, though he encouraged the board to look for ways of boosting the money in reserves.

n Members of the district’s Mental Health Committee gave a presentation to the board, highlighting their ongoing efforts to address emotional and behavioral concerns among students. The committee members touted the availability of mental health counselors from True North Counseling in the district building, allowing students to seek help while they’re at school.

Lara Beranek, a school nurse working through Marathon County Special Education, said Edgar has the most dedicated mental health team in the area, and it has produced positive results.

“Just like we wouldn’t expect an athlete with a broken foot to play well in a football game, we shouldn’t expect students with poor mental health to do well in school,” she said.

STATE LEGISLATORS HONOR EDGAR STATE CHAMPIONSHP FOOTBALL TEAM- The WIAA Division 7 state football championship Edgar Wildcats were honored by local state legislators at last Wednesday’s Edgar Board of Education meeting. Pictured, from left to right, are State Sen. Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee); senior football players Kohlbe Weisenberger, Brett Baumgartner and Preston Dahlke; State Rep. Donna Rozar (R-Marshfield) and State Rep. James Edming (R-Glen Flora) and Edgar senior football players Teegan Streit, Karter Butt and Marcus Huehnerfuss.

STAFF PHOTO/KEVIN O’BRIEN