Longer Marking Periods?

FISD Moves to A 9 Week Grading Period for the 2019-2020 School Year.

Next year, Frisco ISD schools are switching to a nine-week marking period based schedule. This means that instead of having six marking periods that are each six weeks long, there will be four marking periods that are each nine weeks long.

When asked about the advantages that will come out of this change, Dr. Edge says that “It’s going to be a great advantage to students and teachers. The opportunity to learn, to master, to retake things, to make things up if you need to do that.” This new system also greatly benefits extracurricular classes and activities. During these nine weeks, students have more opportunities to regain and retain eligibility. However, the new system does not come without disadvantages. Dr. Edge also stated that one disadvantage might be that “Every nine-week grade counts more- it’s heavier than a six weeks grade. Students need to be very aware that those two nine-week grading periods make up the semester grade.”

The district-wide switch to a nine-week marking period system comes with many advantages and, as of right now, very few apparent disadvantages. It may even put our teams at a slight edge over other schools that may use a six-week marking period, where students can more frequently lose eligibility. The students’ opportunities increase in both extracurricular and academic activities, while teachers get more time to teach what they want to before tests.