My son's school's grading scale is UNFAIR!

[TheLittleRoo]

I should say we bought in our district BECAUSE the schools are excellent, and in many cases are in the top 5% nationally. There is no doubt my son is receiving a great education. But...

The district I live uses a 7 point grading scale, which means:
93-100 A
85-92 B
77-84 C
69-76 D
0-68 F

Adding insult to injury, they do not award extra points to Honors courses, meaning an A in Honors English is weighted the same as an A in standard English. While they do recognize an A+ with an extra .3, and an A- is a less .3, it's mind boggling that as a district, they can tinker with the grade scale like this.

Other parents in the district are organizing to challenge this, since many scholarships are granted on a minimum GPA requirement. Well, my son may have less than a 4.0 but still have made all 92's in his courses. How is that fair? I am outraged and seemingly unable to do anything about it, other than move into a different district where the schools might not be as good but have a traditional grading school, opt for private school which we can't afford, or what? ARGGGGGHHH!

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

This is how my high school was. I remember making a 92 in class and it was a B. It sucks but it pushed me to work really hard. I don't really understand why they do it.

Maybe it makes the school appear as "top knotch" compared to other schools?

However, I went to a private Catholic school. I have never heard of this being done in a public school. That's tough for the kids in the district that don't have a choice

 

[jellybeans0607]

IDK, I don't think that is completely unfair, as long as this is known and it seems you are fully aware of the grades. What ever letter grade they want to put on it really doesn't matter. when you apply for schools, they don't ask if you got an A, they ask what your grade was, i.e. a 94. They don't really care what the school considered a 94. Your GPA is a grade point average, not a letter average.

As for advanced classes a collage will take into account that the child got a 94 in advanced studies rather than a 94 in regular studies. But the grade would still read a 94, I don't really think they can adjust that on his report card

If its a great school I would leave my child in it and let him know he needs to work as hard as possible and will be greatfull that he did.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

Most high schools I know have the 7 point grading scale. I went to private school and they had it. How good can a school be if everyone gets an A?

I guess I do not see what the fuss is about.

 

[RumpleMom]

I went to public school and that's the grading scale that was used for the Honors classes and AP classes. It was noted on the transcripts to colleges. I say leave it alone.

I do think Honors and AP courses should be given more weight though, so it is possible to get higher than 4.0.

 

[TangaroaTiki]

That's similar to my kids grading scale only anything below a 70 is an F

 

[McKelly]

That is how it was when I was in school and that is the scale my children have now. I thought that is how they all were for the most part.......if not, it certainly sets up higher expectations, which might not be such a bad thing.

 

[kloei423]

I went to a public school and that was our grading scale, 15 years ago when I graduated... The AP classes were weighted though.

 

[Janet Hill]

Nearly all high schools use that grading scale.

Furthermore, most scholarships and college admissions rebase GPAs to take into account differences in how GPAs are calculated.

 

[genius118899]

wait- that's nuts! I'm in college now, and virtually all my friends from across the country had scales that were:
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 73-79
D 70-72
F 69 and below

When a college sees a GPA, it's based on the letter, not the numerical grade. My high school switched to this system to even it out (it was something similar to the OP's until about 6 years ago). We don't have + or -, but we did have bonuses for AP and honors classes, so that when I graduated my GPA was 4.26.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Trust me, those grades are very much on line with any school you will find accross the US. College recruiters look at course names, and even if the grade is weighted, the school needs to provide the actual grade. Also, college recruiters look at the overall picture, they do not for A's, B's, and or C's. Did you know your childs MySpace may be the deciding factor wether or not they get into the college they want. Anyone can look good on a piece of paper, colleges use the cyber world to find out who the true person is...


With that being said, DD was required to monitor her pictures and comments starting in her sophmore year. She has the feature that allows her to deny any comments and any pictures that may be considered "off", they stay off her MySpace and FaceBook.

Best advise is to tell DS to do his best, support him along the way, offer help if he needs it, but let him develop the skills he needs... The world doesn't end when you get a B or a C.... (This took me a long time to figure out). Good Luck.

 

[Tigger&Aidan]

I went to a public school and that was our grading scale, 15 years ago when I graduated... The AP classes were weighted though.

Same at my high school!

 

[RadioFanatic]

That's nothing. At my school, grades are as follows:

95-100 - A
88-94 - B
81-87 - C
75-80 - D
74 and below - F

 

[mjkacmom]

Ours has been that way forever, except you need a 94 for an A, and 86 for a B, etc. I think in HS they are just starting with just numerical grades.

 

[princessmom29]

IDK, I don't think that is completely unfair, as long as this is known and it seems you are fully aware of the grades. What ever letter grade they want to put on it really doesn't matter. when you apply for schools, they don't ask if you got an A, they ask what your grade was, i.e. a 94. They don't really care what the school considered a 94. Your GPA is a grade point average, not a letter average.

As for advanced classes a collage will take into account that the child got a 94 in advanced studies rather than a 94 in regular studies. But the grade would still read a 94, I don't really think they can adjust that on his report card

If its a great school I would leave my child in it and let him know he needs to work as hard as possible and will be greatfull that he did.

Actually colleges look at GPA. Most schools have a minimum GPA requirement to apply for academic scholarships. If you school figures it differently some will adjust it some won't. I found this out only when I was appling for scholarships for college. Mine was figured with weights for advanced courses and some schools took the weights out and re figured. Most college admissions departments are not going through transcripts with a fine tooth comb. They want the bottom line GPA to make a decision.
I teach high school and we have a ten point scale. I think that whatever scale we use it needs to be normed over all schools so that the kids are on a level playing field with college admissions. Trust me, these schools do not go over every transcript of evey child who applies and look at every course. We have been told this by the recruiters that come to our school to talk to the kids. They look at their GPA and SAT/ACT scores to determine scholarships. Very few of the m even have interview processes for academic scholarships any more. It is all about the numbers. If you have them you're in. If you don't you're not. They do not have the time or resources to examine everyone's life history unless they are ivy league or exclusive private colleges.

 

[amylevan]

Same thing at the school where I sent. Imagine my surprise when I earned a 92.5 in my honors english class and was granted a B.

But life went on. I managed just fine. Besides, colleges and scholarship committees are aware of the different gpa systems and take that into consideration.

So instead of complaining that its so unfair, why not encourage your son to do better?

 

[tzolkin]

IDK, I don't think that is completely unfair, as long as this is known and it seems you are fully aware of the grades. What ever letter grade they want to put on it really doesn't matter. when you apply for schools, they don't ask if you got an A, they ask what your grade was, i.e. a 94. They don't really care what the school considered a 94. Your GPA is a grade point average, not a letter average.

As for advanced classes a collage will take into account that the child got a 94 in advanced studies rather than a 94 in regular studies. But the grade would still read a 94, I don't really think they can adjust that on his report card

If its a great school I would leave my child in it and let him know he needs to work as hard as possible and will be greatfull that he did.

This is not necessarily true. When I was in HS we got a letter grade, not a number grade. There would be absolutely no way for a college to know that you got a 93B or an 86B. Your GPA was based on those letters-- all As was a 4.0. This could be a problem for college. Ex. Two kids from two different schools, both received 93s in some of their classes, but their schools graded differently, so one looks like an A student while the other one looks like B student. Also honors/AP classes were NOT weighted. This caused issues when it came to valedictorian and class rank.

I got one B in HS... A 93!, so I did not have a 4.0GPA, but kids from other schools that got a bunch of 90s did. Not a big deal in life, but it was when I was 16.

 

[Minnesota!]

That's how school was for me - I graduated 12 years ago.

Just means the kids need to try a little harder for the grade they want - nothing wrong with that!

 

[princessmom29]

That's how school was for me - I graduated 12 years ago.

Just means the kids need to try a little harder for the grade they want - nothing wrong with that!

That depends on the rigor of the course. I think a child who earns a 90 in AP calculus deserves an A. It is almost impossible to earn a 95 in that course ot get an A. It is not fair to expect near perfection to get a decent grade. In all honesty in most cases that i know of where a 7 point or lower scale exists the teachers tend to lower their standards in order for the students to make A's. They almost have to in order for their grades to stand up in comparision to other systems that have a ten point scale. We have several private schools here with a seven point scale and I know for a fact that in somecases standards have been lowered to get the same number of students making A's as before the switch.

 

[PlutoPony]

We also live in VA and use the same grading scale from 8th grade on. A+ is not given, AP and "true" IB classes are 5 point A's instead of 4, but "extended" (i.e. accelerated classes in 8th grade) are on the standard scale.

DS just switched to this scale this year and it's an adjustment. It really changes the kids focus to getting ALL questions right, as you can't afford to miss many/any to get an A.... on a 5 question quiz missing one takes you down to a C (80%).