The mile time required to receive an A in P..E for girls changed back to nine minutes, after a trial change earlier this year that reduced it to eight minutes.  According to P.E. teacher Greg Granucci, the department is aiming to compare scores from the two options and adjust their grading accordingly.

“We switched the mile time again to see if we can accommodate all our students,” Granucci said.

In the future, the department also plans to base students’ grades on other runs on the time they get on the mile. For example, a student with an eight-minute mile will need a faster 1-in-3 time than a student with a ten-minute mile. This is part of a greater change in the P.E. curriculum.

“We feel like we want to have a rubric that will be challenging for all students, but also give a chance for all students to be successful,” Granucci said.

Other changes included the length of certain P.E. units to strike a balance between difficulty and accessibility. Last year, the P.E. department added a synchronized swimming unit to its curriculum. After a successful trial run, the department later lengthened the unit by another week and a half to give more depth. 

P.E. student Claudia Campbell said she believes that the effort students put toward the run should’ve played a more important role in the grading process.

“Cutting down the mile time is a lot more difficult for a lot of people during the mile,” Campbell said. “I think the time shouldn’t be the entirety of your grade, it should be more about how hard you tried.”

Grannuci said that it is an ongoing discussion amongst the PE staff

“Our collabs right now are dominated by rubrics and trying to find common ground,” Granucci said.