Samo adjusts grading policies and classes for 2021-2022
Matilde Martinez-Navarrete, Staff Writer
This past school year, Samo staff continued adjusting curriculum for its freshmen’s schedules and is also working to make more equitable its grading practices. All these changes are intended to increase equity and opportunities in classrooms that will bring academic benefits.
As of this year, Samo freshmen are required to take physics instead of the previously offered biology class. The idea of offering physics in 9th grade before students enroll in chemistry and biology has long been touted by a movement called Physics First. Physics First emerged as an organized initiative in the 90s mostly thanks to Nobel Prize Winner Leon Lederman’s widespread advocation for it, but some schools had already made the change decades before. The movement argues that an introductory physics class will provide students with a better foundation for chemistry, which will later provide a stronger foundation for biology. Principal Antonio Shelton explains the purpose of this switch.
“Our goal is to have more opportunities introduced, because a lot of high schoolers don’t take physics… The ultimate goal would be to have kids take all four years of science… I also look at the big picture… Are we going to create a diverse population and equity in science classes? Hopefully, yes.” Shelton said.
As a result of this change, incoming freshmen will have more limited options when looking to take get-ahead summer courses. Samo does not offer physics as a get-ahead class, so students must look elsewhere for the class. Crossroads does offer physics during the summer, but there is an advanced algebra and trigonometry or a trigonometry and pre-calculus requirement. At the earliest, Samo students can take these math classes during their sophomore year, so Crossroads is not a viable option. The only other choice is taking college-level physics at Santa Monica College, the workload of which may be too much for incoming freshmen.
Furthering its goal of equity and access, Samo teachers are looking to fine-tune their grading practices. With this new practice which weighs assessments higher than homework assignments and practice, teachers aim hope to make students final grades more representative of their progress on the course learning standards and not on whether or not their homework has been completed. The system also brings more equity because it focuses on the quality of work instead of the quantity. Lauren Paule Sheahan, Samo O House Principal, explains further.
“There is a long-standing educational trend that has been around for over 15 years toward a shift in grading and reporting. Samohi is somewhat traditional in this area and is just beginning to move toward this best practice… This educational theory is based on giving feedback on the practice and credit on the final mastery standards with the opportunity to reassess to demonstrate mastery,” Paule Sheahan said.
The opportunity for reassessment serves as a cornerstone for this new practice. Not all students learn at the same rate, so giving them multiple opportunities to show mastery of a subject instead of assessing a student’s mastery of a concept based on one day’s performance.
In grading systems with a greater emphasis on assignments, students who do poorly on tests but complete all their assignments may pass the class, while those who don’t do their homework but do well on tests can still fail. External factors like working a job, taking care of family or health issues may cause students to miss assignment deadlines, and therefore lose many points in assignment-heavy grading. A traditional form of grading may also take into account participation and attendance, which don’t represent academic achievement. While a student could get an A in this system, that A might not necessarily demonstrate actual mastery of the content, which is why an emphasis on assessments is a better reflection of progress.
Cassidy Walther (’25), like many other students, is conflicted when it comes to this new policy.
“I have mixed feelings for sure. I know that deeply understanding the curriculum is extremely important… but it also gives me so much stress during the assessments… One mess up on a test could tip it either way, so they are all pretty high pressure” Walther said.
Students take a test in their Spanish 5AP class, which has a 90 percent weight on assessments.