This school year Edison implemented the new GAMA grading system, this came after the previous system, Skedula, crashed.
This recent change caused a bit of an uproar across the students and staff of Edison. When questioned about the pros of Skedula here’s what Ms. Petroutsos, a teacher at Edison had to say:
It’s “easy to input grades”, this was due to the fact that it “works in collaboration with classroom,” said Ms. Petroutsos.
She went on to explain how it was easy to message parents and “keep track of students.” Something that many students seemed to have valued. It was a thing of dependability,
“students were able to see any grade discrepancy and have it fixed,” said Ms. Petroutsos.
Skedula had an interface that could only be described as “user-friendly.”
More so when asked about the cons, there was nothing to be said. Nothing, but,
“I don’t really have any cons, even the time that it crashed, I wouldn’t call that a con, it’s just something that happens,” said Ms. Petroutsos
So, this leaves many wondering why not just wait until the system crash was sorted out?
Now the questions for GAMA, what are students and teachers thoughts on it?
“I don’t think that it’s effective at all.” said Ms. Petroutous. “It doesn’t lock assignments in chronological order, hard to figure out what is already there and what is not, it’s very mixed up.”
The ability to track individual students is only further highlighted by GAMA.
“It’s difficult to focus on one individual student, whereas in Skedula you can select one student and get their assignment details.” said Ms. Petroutsos.
Her frustrations were evident throughout the interview, speaking for students and other teachers. In the middle of the interview she stopped to ask the class if they missed Pupilpath. She was met with a collective “yes” (from period 4 PGC).
The students went on to say that they had just given up on checking their grades. It was shown that GAMA contradicts the rules set under the Student Bill of Rights. Section I The Right to a Free, Public School Education, numbers 9-11, states how students should always have access to viewing their coursework and their progress at any given moment. Yet, it’s January and students still have no way of doing so.
“The city is not even following through on its commitment to a right that students have,” said Ms. Petroutsos.
For now Edison students and staff are trying to work with the system that they are given. They hope to see some change, and to see it soon.
