Weighted Grades Troy Buchanan High School Jerry Raines, Ed.D (Principal) Chris Gray, ED.S. (Asst. Principal)
Our Current Reality • All courses are weighted on a 4.0 scale regardless of content or rigor • In the last two years we have added Honors classes as well as AP classes (increased rigor to meet college and career readiness standards) • Some students have elected to not sign up for the Honors and AP classes for fear that the rigor would affect their GPA
Overview of Weighted Grades • What are weighted grades? • Weighted grades are letter grades that are assigned a numerical advantage when calculating a grade point average, or GPA. • Weighted grade systems give students a numerical advantage for grades earned in higher ‐ level courses or more challenging learning experiences, such as honors courses or Advanced Placement courses. • What is the purpose of weighting grades? • Weighted grades provide an incentive for students to challenge themselves academically. • Weighted grades reward students who take tougher courses, recognize higher levels of academic accomplishment, and provide a balanced system of grading in schools with multiple academic tracks. ‐ greatschoolspartnership.org
Rationale for Changing • The purpose of having weighted grades is to encourage students to enroll in our most rigorous academic courses in order to maximize preparation for their post ‐ secondary education. In addition, with a weighted GPA students can potentially be more competitive when applying for college scholarships and admission.
Implementation Plan • The Class of 2017 will have every opportunity to take all honors courses, as well as, AP courses currently listed in our course descriptions. It is with this in mind that this cohort of students would then be the first group of students to have their grades weighted. • In addition, it is also possible to implement weighted grades immediately for all grade levels as long as the student’s unweighted grades are used to determine valedictorian and/or salutatorian. • This eliminates the problem of “I didn’t have a chance to take that class” or “I would have taken that class had I known it was going to be weighted.”
Courses to be Weighted • We are proposing a 3 tiered system as outlined below: Tier 1 (no weight): Diploma Track Courses not listed in Tier 2 or Tier 3 Tier 2 (0.5 weight per semester): Gold Scholar Challenge Courses Tier 3 (1.0 weight per semester): AP and Honors Courses In order to earn the additional weighted points in any tier, a student must complete the course with a semester grade of a 70% or higher. Handout
Frequently Asked Questions • Why are we changing to weighted grades now? We have recently added more rigorous classes as we strive for college and career readiness. As we move forward, we want to provide incentive for our students to take the most rigorous schedule that they can. • Will this help my student? How? We believe that it will benefit our student body by allowing them to take a rigorous course load without having to worry that it will affect their GPA negatively. We believe it will put them on a level playing field with our students in our area with regard to college acceptance and local scholarships. • What classes are weighted and how were they determined? We outlined earlier in the presentation the classes that will be weighted. We researched what other schools in our conference and surrounding area do with weighted grades. This gave us a starting point of our current Gold Scholar classes, as well as, our Honors and AP classes.
F.A.Q. Cont. • How will this impact my current GPA? GPA is calculated by assigning a numerical value to the student’s letter grade earned in a class. Once the numerical value is assigned then find the average and that is your students GPA. This will be the same in a weighted system but the potential for a higher GPA is possible as letter grades in a weighted system are worth more points. Ex: Student XYZ earned the following – Weighted Unweighted o Algebra 2 – B 3 pts 3 pts o AP world History – A 5 pts 4 pts o Oral Communications (110 Lindenwood) ‐ A 4.5 pts 4 pts o Grade Point Average 4.167 3.667 • When will this go into effect? Immediately for the Class of 2017 if approved by the Board of Education. Potentially could go into effect for entire student body as long as the weighted grades are not used to calculate valedictorian and/or salutatorian.
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