One can argue that education is a fundamental human right. It is the basis of modern society as we know it. Without education, social, technological and political progress is simply impossible; yet, even considering this fact, the level of functional illiteracy in the United States is 21%, accounting for almost seventy million people nationwide. This is a systemic issue that ultimately needs nationwide solution, but such a solution cannot be achieved unless high schools take part. To help resolve this issue, North Penn can raise educational standards and thereby help other schools see what needs to be done.
Education is a collective effort, not something that you can simply leave to a few men and women in the white house to decide; it is something that a community has to strive to improve. As the long overdue renovations at North Penn are beginning their course, so must the policy and educational reforms. These reforms include improving students’ grades and freedoms, eliminating unnecessary practices, and making school more accessible, with one of the primary concerns at North Penn being the grading system.
The universalization of what we call the “5-3-1 style of grading” is incorrect. This is an excessive attempt to standardize, and it goes so far as to “standardize” what must be different. AP classes should not be expected to have three tests and five quizzes, for instance, since they follow a schedule that may need fewer than that. A subject that suffers from this greatly is AP Calculus, which has a large number of topics to teach students between late August and early May, with its teachers using a month-long review period to successfully prepare students for the exams; fitting five checkpoints and three cumulative assessments in this schedule is so hard that more than one checkpoint can be dumped in the same week (as occurred for Calculus BC in the week of April 28, 2025), one checkpoint may be divided into multiple to reach the quota (as occurred in the first marking period), and the class may simply not meet the required number of assignments (as is happening in the fourth marking period with its cumulative assignments). It is not bad to give students multiple opportunities to build their grades, but there should not be an arbitrary quota set for all classes at all levels.
Teachers of a given course and level should have their own plans for what number of assignments to give each marking period. Some classes already have multiple assignments and need not cut them down; others, like the aforementioned AP Calculus classes, need a lower number of assignments that each cover more topics due to their busy nature. While different classes already have different intensities in their assignments, combining that with different numbers of assignments for those classes ensures that students taking those classes get the standards they need. This practice will allow people to do well in their classes and actually focus on learning the topics they need to know instead of trying to achieve arbitrary grades in particular assignments, whose scores have a hardly predictable impact on class grades due to the use of categories.
The separation of grades into categories disincentivizes doing homework and can possibly ruin students’ grades if they do well in one category and not the other. Instead, a more effective policy is to have the points-based system that still rewards good work on challenging assignments while allowing all good assignments to contribute to grade improvements, giving students the incentive and motivation to be on track with their homework assignments, and not leaving them as an overlooked aspect of a class. This, in addition, promotes more rigorous study of the subject due to the greater given emphasis on homework contribution to the overall students’ grades. This, in turn, would theoretically cause a greater increase in academic performance in said class, enhancing the students’ GPAs and solidifying the knowledge taught in class.
An additional issue with grades is derived from the course levels that are offered. Currently, North Penn offers 5.0, 6.0, Dual Enrollment and AP course levels, with there being a big jump in difficulty and pace between 5.0 and 6.0 classes, with 5.0 being considered the ‘standard’ course level, and 6.0 being the ‘honors’ level. The main issue with this is how broad of a spectrum 5.0 covers. Certain students in 5.0 classes may be performing very well in such an environment, showcasing that they may potentially thrive in either an AP or 6.0 environment; while, in contrast, certain students may be the opposite, displaying the need for a smaller, one on one class environment that a 4.0 class level may potentially offer. But, to make sure that a student maximizes their potential in such classes, they should be given every opportunity to make sure that they select a schedule that’s right for them.
To give determined students more flexibility in their schedules and showcase their knowledge in a subject to increase their course level, North Penn must allow the option to administer prerequisite tests in order to see if the student has the knowledge to succeed in the desired class. By giving this opportunity to students, it allows them to ‘self study’ certain classes, and maximizes the knowledge offered at North Penn, ensuring that classes such as AP Latin don’t miss out on a wide array of students interested in taking the class, but being unable to simply due to course prerequisites that could’ve been easily overridden with a ‘prerequisite test’. This test will measure the amount of required knowledge for a particular course they want to take that currently requires a prerequisite course. If a student receives a passing grade, they will be exempted from the course prerequisites and allowed to take it in their schedule, if not, they still will have to satisfy the given prerequisite if they still want to take the course.
All of the aforementioned reforms can only work effectively in a well designed, quality environment. The upcoming renovation at North Penn that will begin in the 2025-2026 academic year will ensure that future students at the high school will be able to take advantage of opportunities and learn effectively in a new, comfortable building. The renovation will rearrange classrooms and departments at the high school into a more organized and centralized environment, offering students easier navigation throughout the high school; it will fix great problems that the building has, such as fragile plumbing which frequently leads to closed bathrooms. But this renovation can only come so far, and with the recent referendum’s failure, missed opportunities will become more evident as the school progresses. The freshman class, for example, will still have to stay at the middle schools where they will be faced with less opportunities than compared to North Penn high school, taking away a whole year of opportunity that could’ve been utilized for extracurricular activities, community involvement and rigorous classes that North Penn could’ve offered them.
As North Penn begins its journey through renovation, so it should through reform. A society’s future is only as good as it is prepared through education, and as a community of the North Penn school district, we should collectively strive for better education, not just for our friends and peers, but for future generations studying at North Penn high school. Through collective effort and reform today, we will achieve the success necessary to build a better tomorrow, setting a standard not just for us, but for high schools around the country.
