Making the Grade at Hopatcong HS Gets Harder

Attention, students: It's going to be a little harder to pass your classes this year.

Under a policy approved by the borough's school board Monday night, avoiding an F now means beating a 65 numerical grade. That's up from the standard of 60 that's been in place for the last few years, and the standard of 50 before it.

The scale of passing grades has been reconfigured as well—and in some ways puts high alphabetical grades in easier reach. For instance, an A+ used to be a grade of 98-100; now it's 96-100.

But passing will be tougher. And schools Superintendent Charles Maranzano said that opens up the risk that some students will struggle to achieve passing grades.

"We're in the business of moving students through a a continuum," he said. "We have an investment in their success. I think the safe thing to do is keep your standards low, and then you don't expose yourself. But at this point in time, the benefits outweigh the risk."

Those benefits, he said, are greater accountability, and greater ambition.

For now, the change only affects Hopatcong High School, though Maranzano said it could ultimately be considered for the borough's middle school. No such proposal has yet been made.

Maranzano said work done over the last few years to identify at-risk students, to more effectively and fairly assess performance and to involve parents in education puts the district in a place where it can apply a more stringent standard, and still feel confident of success.

"We think we've got the right instructional model in place. ... Now we've got to push our students a little harder to be successful," he said.

The district, in making the change, cites a range of minimum passing grade requirements at other nearby schools: Kittatinny at 60; Sparta, 60; High Point, 60; Lenape Valley 65; Wallkill, 65; Newton, 70; Pope John, 70. And Maranzano said in a world where colleges, athletics programs and employers are becoming increasingly demanding about qualifications, it's important borough schools set a serious standard for what it takes to be considered on the right track.

He said the school district endeavors to teach "lessons of life far beyond the four walls of the classroom."

When Hopatcong schools bumped the passing level from 50 to 60, Maranzano said, more students actually began passing.

In the first year after that change, 149 students were failing at least one subject in the first marking period. A year later, there were 124 students in the same situation. A year after that, 100.

Although class sizes vary from year to year, Maranzano said that's out of a freshman student body of about 180.

The superintendent said that's due to a number of changes made around the same time, and continuing this year. Efforts have been made to standardize the application of letter and numerical grades across various sorts of work, such as homework; the typical in-classroom test is no longer as conclusive a factor in assessing student performance. A homework club helps struggling students. Parents and students alike have access to electronic tools that help them monitor performance as the year continues, so that a once-per-marking period grade isn't a surprise. Teachers have undergone training to help identify the unique needs of students with varying learning styles, which Maranzano said can be a key skill when helping a student whose performance is borderline.

The superintendent said he's not sure what will happen in the coming year, with a stricter standard for passing—if the gains seen last time the bar was raised can be repeated.

"You might expect a spike in the opposite direction if not everybody is buying into that—if people don't rise to the occasion," he said. "But that doesn't carry dire consequences. ... I'm confident enough to ensure the community we're ready for that change."