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

[Matt'sMom]

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...

Our school district uses a very similar basic % scale for grading. The percentage grade for each class is noted on the report card. It is an unbiased indication of how well the student performed on exams (% correct) combined with completion of their class asignments (% of work appropriately completed). The comparative letter scale is only provided as a way to help parents put those percentage scores into perspective. I honestly do not see where there is anything unusual or unfair about this type of a grading scale at all.

I formerly worked in the admissions office at a major state University, and can honestly say that what the admissions team looked at was a combination of SAT scores, grades earned in school (based on the % scale, not letters), whether or not the student took AP/honors courses (no need/reason for those grades to be 'weighted'), and participation in sports, band &/or other extra curricular activities. The specific grading scale that a school district used had no real impact in regards to admissions decisions.

Good grades, percentage/performance wise, are good grades... no matter what 'letters' you may associate with them. Guess I just do not understand why OP feels so outraged, or that it is even an issue? What are your specific concerns (since college admissions & scholarships shouldn't be impacted at all by this)?

 

[princessmom29]

Our school district uses a very similar basic % scale for grading. The percentage grade for each class is noted on the report card. It is an unbiased indication of how well the student performed on exams (% correct) combined with completion of their class asignments (% of work appropriately completed). The comparative letter scale is only provided as a way to help parents put those percentage scores into perspective. I honestly do not see where there is anything unusual or unfair about this type of a grading scale at all.

I formerly worked in the admissions office at a major state University, and can honestly say that what the admissions team looked at was a combination of SAT scores, grades earned in school (based on the % scale, not letters), whether or not the student took AP/honors courses (no need/reason for those grades to be 'weighted'), and participation in sports, band &/or other extra curricular activities. The specific grading scale that a school district used had no real impact in regards to admissions decisions.

Good grades, percentage/performance wise, are good grades... no matter what 'letters' you may associate with them. Guess I just do not understand why OP feels so outraged, or that it is even an issue? What are your specific concerns (since college admissions & scholarships shouldn't be impacted at all by this)?

From what I am being told here by college admission personell this is not the way they do it in our area. They look at the GPA and not the percntage scores. There is a minimum GPA requirment to apply printed on evey scholarship application I have done a recommendation for this year. Mabye it is unique to colleges in the south??

 

[scottishduffy]

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.

But near perfection is what an "A" represents. I see nothing wrong with the grading scale. In my current level of schooling I FAIL if I get below an 83%. An A should darn well represent near perfection. That a kid had worked their tail off and truly understood all the material in order to earn that. Grades should be about the amount of work put it... not a school's desire to have all A students for scholarship purposes. It is about hard work, not making people feel good.

I really depise the systems which believe everyone should get an A. What good does that do us? Then the A means nothing if everyone can do it. The grades should be a true representation the understanding of the material. It stinks that it is so hard to get an A in calculus..... but calculus is a hard class! Not everyone will get it. That is true with so many things in life that some get it and some don't.

Encourage your son to work harder and really study. Think of how wonderful it real feel to truly *earn* that great grade. My high scool and my college worked on a similar grading scale. Right now the master's program is a FAIL below 83%. Nothing we can do but work hard and then reap the rewards!

Colleges look at so much more besides each particular high scool's grading scale. Colleges have their own scales to use regardless of what each high school does because they realize different schools behave differently.

 

[TheLittleRoo]

Wow, I'm shocked at the number of school districts that have adopted this grading scale. I'm in Loudoun County in NoVA, and several other from NoVA have added to this thread.

First, in Virginia, I understand it's not commonplace to deviate from the traditional 10 pt scale. This makes it harder for our students to get into state universities because they aren't looking at % (ie, 92% in Math) but at a letter grade on the transcript (ie, B). Worse, the overall GPA for the year is a raw number based not on the % grades, but the letters which are then weighted (ie, 4.0 for an A, 3.0 for a B).

So, to answer the points raised in this thread, I'm outraged because my child should not be excluded from scholarship money because his school district chooses a 7 point system which penalizes him with a 3.0 for a 90, when a student in another part of the country got a 4.0 for that same work, same score.

And, he's getting a 4.0 average now pulling straight A's even though they're harder to earn in his district since they moved up the floor to a 93. So why shouldn't his A count for more then? And why would a school district NOT weight an honors class to count for more than a standard class - - because it IS harder and requires more out of the students. Other than PE, my son is carrying ALL honors courses and works his butt off to keep an A average. But heck, he could drop down to regular classes and not have to work so hard, and many of his friends do so to maintain an even higher A average (an A+ instead of his A)

He is a gifted student, and I have no doubt he'll score well in the SAT's and ACTs, but we will need financial help to pay for college. So my district is not only punishing and demotivating their students with this stringent grading scale, but also financially penalizing its families by reducing our scholarship opportunities as well. I guarantee you the admissions boards are not looking at a %'ile grade for each course, but a letter grade. That is, when they even bother to look at individual course letter grades, rather than the overall GPA which is printed right on the transcript.

My point is this, my son's 4.0 GPA from a 7 pt school was harder to earn than another student's 4.0 from a 10 pt school. That is not a level playing field.

 

[eclairemom]

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

That's the one I had 20 years or so ago

 

[Goofy4]

Our kids have been on the "92-100" plan for an A since 5th grade. I still don't understand why, for a number of reasons:

If they want to make the grades harder to attain, make the tests more difficult.

If we're giving up on a "10's mentality" (A = 90-100, etc.), then also change the popular concept that a quiz should consist of 10 or 20 questions. Miss 1 (10% or 2 for 20 questions) and you've got a "B". Perfection on a 10 question quiz is required to earn an "A". One of my kids is just simply not capable, it seems, at getting a 10 out of 10 even when knowing the answer to all the questions ahead of time.

Teachers have different/inconsistent ways of recording scores. Some will record a scale number, others the actual percentage. Makes a difference in how the grades average out, especially when an assignment is missed. 0% averaged with 100% is still an F. 0 for an F, averaged with, say, 13 for an A+, comes out in the "C" range.

If school administrators hope that raising the scale demonstrates a commitment to academic excellence, I don't see the correlation. It may be true, but I never did get a good explanation for it and darn it, I don't like change just for the sake of change. I'm with ya OP.

 

[TheLittleRoo]

Our kids have been on the "92-100" plan for an A since 5th grade. I still don't understand why, for a number of reasons:

If they want to make the grades harder to attain, make the tests more difficult.

If we're giving up on a "10's mentality" (A = 90-100, etc.), then also change the popular concept that a quiz should consist of 10 or 20 questions. Miss 1 (10% or 2 for 20 questions) and you've got a "B". Perfection on a 10 question quiz is required to earn an "A". One of my kids is just simply not capable, it seems, at getting a 10 out of 10 even when knowing the answer to all the questions ahead of time.

Teachers have different/inconsistent ways of recording scores. Some will record a scale number, others the actual percentage. Makes a difference in how the grades average out, especially when an assignment is missed. 0% averaged with 100% is still an F. 0 for an F, averaged with, say, 13 for an A+, comes out in the "C" range.

If school administrators hope that raising the scale demonstrates a commitment to academic excellence, I don't see the correlation. It may be true, but I never did get a good explanation for it and darn it, I don't like change just for the sake of change. I'm with ya OP.

Exactly my point. Thanks for your support!! Our school board thinks they keeping academic excellence with this scale, and it doesn't make sense to me either. An A should be an A wherever it's earned. Everyone knows there are schools where it's easy to get an A, and schools where it's hard to get an A. The problem comes at GPA calculation time, especially with regard to scholarships. Class rank would also give an admissions board insight, but I hear they aren't looking at those much anymore either.

 

[Matt'sMom]

They look at the GPA and not the percntage scores.

This increased focus on HS GPA (to the exclusion of percentage grades) may be something that has changed over the years, or may be somewhat regional. I really can't say--was just sharing my experience from back when I worked in admissions. We did consider actual grades back then, not just whether or not a student had a 3.0 or a 4.0 over-all GPA.

There is a minimum GPA requirement to apply printed on every scholarship application I have done a recommendation for this year...

Out of curiosity, I took a quick look at GPA cut offs for scholarship apps, and it seems most had cut off points of somewhere between a 2.5 - 3.0 GPA. That would only require a minimum average of between 80 and 88%... using the grading scale favored by our and the OP's school district. Doesn't seem all that unreasonable an expectation in order to qualify for an academic scholarship. Yes, a student from a school district that grades differently could potentially meet the minimum GPA for application, even though their percentage grades were actually lower. But if that student is genuinely less qualified, then their chances of making it beyond the initial rounds of consideration are not going to be as good. The minimum GPA is merely a starting point for weeding out the lesser applicants. I am certain that apps are more closely scrutinized & carefully considered before scholarships are awarded. The cream rises to the top, regardless.

 

[RMulieri]

I am sorry, but I don't see what is so unfair.My highschool ( and alot of colleges ) grade the same way.

 

[genius118899]

I am sorry, but I don't see what is so unfair.My highschool ( and alot of colleges ) grade the same way.

I'm sorry, but what colleges??? My college (which is consistently ranked #1 for aerospace engineering in the US, it's not a community college or anything) leaves grade scales up to the individual professor. Even so, every single one of my professors has used either a ten or even a twelve point scale.

 

[Camno's Mama]

I guess it kind of sucks, but I don't really think it's unfair when so many people are using that system. They do take the school that you come from into account when looking at kids' college applications, so the fact that you are able to afford a good district could be considered unfair as well. It's also unfair that some kids have parents who have to work several jobs to support their family, and don't have the time or the money to help their kids with their grades or hire a tutor when things get tough.

There is no such thing as a level playing field when it comes to kids and education. You could always try to fight it, and if enough parents say something, they might change it. For now, the best thing to do is to encourage your child to do his best, and hope for the outcome that works best for you. I know it's hard when your kid has worked hard to earn their GPA, and then something like this comes along. I live in and grew up in a district that has consistently high achieving over the years, and these things are always upsetting to the parents and students.

Just remember, they are getting a great education no matter what, and colleges take that great education into account when considering whether you child is a good candidate for their school.

 

[Camno's Mama]

I'm sorry, but what colleges??? My college (which is consistently ranked #1 for aerospace engineering in the US, it's not a community college or anything) leaves grade scales up to the individual professor. Even so, every single one of my professors has used either a ten or even a twelve point scale.

Sorry, just wanted to add that my college, a small four year liberal arts school in IL, left it up to the professor as well. Sometimes it was on the scale mentioned, sometimes it was on the ten point scale. I don't remember ever having a twelve point scale though.

 

[princessmom29]

But near perfection is what an "A" represents. I see nothing wrong with the grading scale. In my current level of schooling I FAIL if I get below an 83%. An A should darn well represent near perfection. That a kid had worked their tail off and truly understood all the material in order to earn that. Grades should be about the amount of work put it... not a school's desire to have all A students for scholarship purposes. It is about hard work, not making people feel good.

I really depise the systems which believe everyone should get an A. What good does that do us? Then the A means nothing if everyone can do it. The grades should be a true representation the understanding of the material. It stinks that it is so hard to get an A in calculus..... but calculus is a hard class! Not everyone will get it. That is true with so many things in life that some get it and some don't.

Encourage your son to work harder and really study. Think of how wonderful it real feel to truly *earn* that great grade. My high scool and my college worked on a similar grading scale. Right now the master's program is a FAIL below 83%. Nothing we can do but work hard and then reap the rewards!

Colleges look at so much more besides each particular high scool's grading scale. Colleges have their own scales to use regardless of what each high school does because they realize different schools behave differently.

Most calculus exams do not have enough questions on them to be able to miss more than one and earn an A on this scale. Students cannot work that many problems in a 45 min class period. My argument is that an A should be an attainable standard. Ona 5 point scale like some people are describing no one would have made an a in any of the AP math and science classes I took in high school. Why set a scale where no one can earn an A? The standadrd is just to rigorous. I agree that not everyone in capable of earning an A and they should not recieve one unless they earn it, but it should be something thati s at least attainable.

Our kids have been on the "92-100" plan for an A since 5th grade. I still don't understand why, for a number of reasons:

If they want to make the grades harder to attain, make the tests more difficult.

If we're giving up on a "10's mentality" (A = 90-100, etc.), then also change the popular concept that a quiz should consist of 10 or 20 questions. Miss 1 (10% or 2 for 20 questions) and you've got a "B". Perfection on a 10 question quiz is required to earn an "A". One of my kids is just simply not capable, it seems, at getting a 10 out of 10 even when knowing the answer to all the questions ahead of time.

Teachers have different/inconsistent ways of recording scores. Some will record a scale number, others the actual percentage. Makes a difference in how the grades average out, especially when an assignment is missed. 0% averaged with 100% is still an F. 0 for an F, averaged with, say, 13 for an A+, comes out in the "C" range.

If school administrators hope that raising the scale demonstrates a commitment to academic excellence, I don't see the correlation. It may be true, but I never did get a good explanation for it and darn it, I don't like change just for the sake of change. I'm with ya OP.

Good point!

This increased focus on HS GPA (to the exclusion of percentage grades) may be something that has changed over the years, or may be somewhat regional. I really can't say--was just sharing my experience from back when I worked in admissions. We did consider actual grades back then, not just whether or not a student had a 3.0 or a 4.0 over-all GPA.



Out of curiosity, I took a quick look at GPA cut offs for scholarship apps, and it seems most had cut off points of somewhere between a 2.5 - 3.0 GPA. That would only require a minimum average of between 80 and 88%... using the grading scale favored by our and the OP's school district. Doesn't seem all that unreasonable an expectation in order to qualify for an academic scholarship. Yes, a student from a school district that grades differently could potentially meet the minimum GPA for application, even though their percentage grades were actually lower. But if that student is genuinely less qualified, then their chances of making it beyond the initial rounds of consideration are not going to be as good. The minimum GPA is merely a starting point for weeding out the lesser applicants. I am certain that apps are more closely scrutinized & carefully considered before scholarships are awarded. The cream rises to the top, regardless.

I know that at at least 4 of the state colleges around here that is you meet all the requirments put forth for the acedemic scholarship you recieve it. They are not really minimums to apply they are the qualifications to recieve the money. I haven't looked this year but in past years Southern Miss required a 3.50 GPA and a 33 ACT for full tuition. My argument is that a 92 being a B could keep a child from getting that scholarship that should have recieved it based on a 10 point grading scale.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

So, to answer the points raised in this thread, I'm outraged because my child should not be excluded from scholarship money because his school district chooses a 7 point system which penalizes him with a 3.0 for a 90, when a student in another part of the country got a 4.0 for that same work, same score.

So my district is not only punishing and demotivating their students with this stringent grading scale, but also financially penalizing its families by reducing our scholarship opportunities as well.

My point is this, my son's 4.0 GPA from a 7 pt school was harder to earn than another student's 4.0 from a 10 pt school. That is not a level playing field.

So can I be outraged that you want my child is excluded from scholarship money since we are on a 7 point system? Nonsense!

So you want your child to have an easier grading system than the kids he may be up against for scholarships/entrance to college? How is that fair?

7 point grading has been around a long time.

 

[TheLittleRoo]

So can I be outraged that you want my child is excluded from scholarship money since we are on a 7 point system? Nonsense!

So you want your child to have an easier grading system than the kids he may be up against for scholarships/entrance to college? How is that fair?

7 point grading has been around a long time.

No, I want my child to have the same grading system as every one else's child. How is that unfair? If your child is on a 7 pt grading system, s/he is already being penalized in GPA which determines scholarship eligibility. If your child is on a 10 pt system, s/he is going to have a higher GPA earning the same %'ile grades as my child. How is that fair?

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

I have 3 kids, one in each elementary, middle and high school. They all use the 7-point grading system; however, the percentages are reported as well as the letter grade. My daughter has AP classes and they are weighted for class ranking only, not GPA. (I'm in graduate school and we use it, too.) Never considered it "unfair" for any of us. Scholarships are not soley based on GPA. There are tons of "smart kids" around. It's character, activities, etc that makes the difference and sets kids apart.

 

[bonybroad]

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

That is our school's grading scale.
My son is in SECOND grade, has an 86% in math, which is a C.
I almost punished him until I saw the scale, and then I told him he was fine.
Second grade!

 

[bumbershoot]

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

I don't know if they rebase it, but I know that when I applied to college there was a place on the application, that the office filled in, giving them info on what percentage of grads went to college, and such, and I imagine there was a space for how they scale their grades, too.

My schools through college were all on the 10 point scale. I had never even heard of the 7 point scale until chiropractic school, when I found out that that's how we were going to be graded. Sure does make you work your butt off! That straight A quarter was even more joyous for me, knowing how high a percentage I had to get.

That said, I don't like the scale at all. To me, normal is 10 points.

 

[Teacher03]

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!

I haven't read all the responses, but I feel for you! My kids' high school did the same thing. My daughter was in all honors courses and graduated with a 3.6. The three valedictorians all had a 4.0 , but not one honors course between the three of them. In fact, one girl's mother worked at the school and made sure her daughter got all the easiest teachers. I wish grades didn't matter so much, but they do. It matters with scholarships, etc. If it makes you feel better, my daughter graduated from college summa cum laude, number one in her class. So I am glad she got a quality high school education to prepare her for college, but I still didn't think it was fair.

 

[robsmom]

I really would not worry about the scale part it. For the most point it is totally irrelevant what grade scale a school uses unless you are proposing that we move to a system where everyone in the nation takes the exact same curriculum and the exact same tests.

School A can have your scale but have easy classes and easy tests. School B could have the 90-100 A but have impossibly hard tests. This would make it really unfair to the other school and your kids would be the lucky ones getting the scholarships. Just because a school uses 90-100 does not mean that it gives out more A's.


On the other hand, i would fight hard about honors courses being recognized as this impacts your son's relative ratings to others.

While there is no perfect way to compare students in a school, I believe the real comparison of college applicants has 2 key factors:

1. class rank - how did a student do in comparison to its peers (measured by rank, sat scores, etc)
2. school rank - how does the school the student went to compare to its peers. (measured by avg test scores, success of prior students, reputation, etc.)

There are prep schools in our area in which the kids ranked 30 or 40 out of 200 are getting fully scholarships and schools in the city near us where the top ranked students are lucky to get into community college.

Be glad your son is in a good and competitive school - in the long run he will be better education and come out ahead!