The citizenship grade requirement for graduates of Granite is being changed next year so that they can graduate high school.  Starting next year the new citizenship requirement will be raised from a 2.0 to 3.0 with the class of 2026 and beyond.

There are five characteristics for a Granite graduate: Dependability is about being reliable and accountable by attending school, arriving on time, and following school procedures for excusing absences.

Respect is about acknowledging differences by looking for the good in everyone, including oneself, and showing due regard for feelings, rights, cultures, and traditions.

Communication is about being able to communicate effectively by sharing and understanding information and working together in a group or team setting.

Hard work and resilience are about setting your own personal goals, doing your best to face a challenge and overcome it, and being self-confident, efficient, and optimistic.

Responsibility is about being trustworthy, ethical, reliable, and accountable for individual choices and results, following class policies, coming prepared for class, and demonstrating accountability.

what could have caused this change? Is there any way to raise the citizenship grade if it does fall below that 3.0 requirement and how do teachers prepare students? Miriam Castle who teaches at Kearns High School says, “It is a reaction from COVID-19 when students had an option between being in person or online so students would miss school due to assignments being on canvas.” This could be a reason why the Granite School District is changing its citizenship requirement. Jared Burgess who also is a teacher at Kearns High says,  “The new citizenship will incentivize the students to come to school more often now that a 3.0 is much more prominent and to focus on other aspects of Graduate of Granite.” There is a way to improve citizenship grade if it does fall below that 3.0 requirement Stephanie Hurzler who is another teacher at Kearns High School says “Teachers are busy after school and students can come after school and ask if teachers, custodians or administrators need help with anything, which then hours will be tracked and can be used to improve citizenship grade” this can help improve citizenship grade but make sure to double check with your teachers to see if this way is possible.

Students be mindful that even if you do come to school if you are late to class repeatedly it will affect your citizenship grade in accountability and make sure to turn in work on time as late work can affect your citizenship grade in responsibility.

There is one small problem with Graduate of Granite stated by Miriam Castle and Stephanie Hurzler.  Miriam Castle says “it’s up to individual teachers on how to grade citizenship.” Stephanie Hurzler adds,  “There is no clear wording and it is very cryptic and it varies from teacher to teacher. If teachers were on the same page then students wouldn’t have to worry much.” StephineHurzler and Miriam Castle both suggested some sort of standard for Graduate of Granite grading so that way it can be more reliable for both students and teachers, for students it will help them understand more clearly what is affecting their citizenship grade and where to fix and improve. Teachers can benefit from this as well Stephine Hurzler says “A four can be considered 90% of the time and goes down from there”