This year, Osceola is switching from a six-week long marking period to a nine-week long quarter. Assistant Principal Ms. Ouellet said, “The Pinellas County School Board approved quarters or four nine-week grading periods because longer grading periods would give students a better chance to recover from poor marks early on. This allows for more instruction because teachers would spend less time reporting grades,” she said, adding that “six weeks is such a short period of time that if you messed up on one test, you might have a hard time making up the grade.” She added that “it also offers consistency across all grade levels: elementary, middle and high school, which are now all on the same grading periods.”

However, a lengthening of the marking period by 3 weeks isn’t the only change. Related to this change, students now require 6 and 12 demerits for academic reprimands. While this may seem like a small difference proportional to the extension of the grading periods, Ms. Ouellet is confident, saying “I think the number of demerits assigned for the quarters is a fair adjustment to the new quarters.”