I am concerned because our high school used PowerSchool and they only keep track of the Weighted GPA. On several scholarship applications the UNWEIGHTED GPA is asked for. I e-mailed the counselor and showed her the College Board scale that we used –
College Board Unweighted Scale:
Letter Grade Percent Grade 4.0 Scale
A+ 97-100 4
A 93-96 4
A- 90-92 3.7
B+ 87-89 3.3
B 83-86 3
B- 80-82 2.7
C+ 77-79 2.3
C 73-76 2
C- 70-72 1.7
D+ 67-69 1.3
D 65-66 1
E/F Below 65 0
We set up a spreadsheet and came up with a 3.66. The counselor and colleague first came up with a 293, then calculated it again with the help of a math teacher, and got a 2.66! His lowest unweighted grade was one (1) B-, which would have a 2.7 value for a one credit course. Nothing else was lower than a B (3.0). I am just kind of scared that if they cannot do the math correctly, what else is going on? Earlier this year, my child’s weighted GPA dropped significantly after he was given 1/2 credit P.E. waiver (for participation in varsity football – he had to complete paperwork to prove he met the competency requirements, and have it signed off by the coach, AD, a HQT in PE, then to the guidance office). They had included a ZERO grade (Zero since it was Pass/Fail and not a letter grade) in his GPA computation. We made a stink about that, and were told later that his grade was fixed, along with 5 other students. Makes me wonder about the poor kids who graduated prior to my son. How do you handle something like this without making enemies while your child is still in school? Do you wait until after graduation and send a letter of concern to the principal and the superintendent and the school board chair?
We had plenty of issues with grades in PS over the years, including GPA calculation issues. Keep track yourself, and request transcripts periodically to keep an eye on them. There were bigger issues with teacher mistakes – wrong grades, missing grades when kid had turned stuff in and gotten it back with a grade on it, etc. I probably would keep being polite but persistent. You need their goodwill, so bite your tongue for now on higher level complaints.
OP, you are wise to keep on top of this situation. There is the possibility of ruining your student’s admission chances due to their faulty math calculations.
I would make sure your student keeps every graded assignment, quiz and test organized by subject. I like the suggestion above to request a copy of the transcript (at end of each year?). You will have to ride a fine line between asking for corrections and not driving them crazy.
Any thoughtful ways you can find to bring kindness their way? A plate of cookies at Christmas, perhaps? Student volunteers in the guidance office? Pay attention and look for ways to be encouraging.
Trust but Verify is my motto! We had a great guidance counselor for both kids but I still requested to see a copy of the transcript that would be sent to colleges, verified the GPA etc.
It certainly sounds like you need to be on top of this particular guidance counselor. For now I’d just be sure everything for your child is sent out correctly and keep a record of the errors. Over the summer – after college acceptances are in and final transcripts are sent you can talk or write to the principal and/or the head of the guidance dept. to help future students whose parents are not so on top of things. Of course if you have another child going through the HS you should specifically ask for another guidance counselor for him/her.
Transcript errors are a not infrequent occurrence. No student should apply to college without first getting a copy of their transcript and reviewing it to make sure the grades are correct and the courses all listed - then check the GPA calculation. All too often there are errors. Most kids never find out. And you don’t want to find out at the last minute that there’s a problem as we did.
Our D had a C in one course that should have been an A. After several days of finger-pointing between the teacher and the registrar (we were trying to let D handle it), the corrected information was finally submitted by the teacher - at which point the registrar got snarky with D about how busy she was and that she’d get around to sending out corrected transcripts when she had time. D called us in tears.
This is where I go Mama Bear: I’m sympathetic to overworked admin, especially when confronted by over-anxious seniors for whom everything is a crisis because they didn’t plan ahead. But we had an EA decision and scholarship money riding on that GPA, the initial mistake wasn’t ours, and a sympathetic ‘I’ll do this tomorrow’ or “I’ll have this done on Friday” from the registrar would have sufficed. Instead, we (spouse and I) were in the principal’s office that same afternoon, the correction got made while we were sitting there and the corrected transcripts went out that same day with a telephone call from the school to the EA school to let them know.
Sometimes bureaucracy requires direct action - polite always - but direct. If you are not a complainer who shows up with ‘issues’ every time something happens, it is reasonable to expect action on the rare occasions when there has been a screw up and you need someone in a position of authority to get it fixed.
Did they fix it? It could have simple been an error. I wouldn’t necessarily presume the GC is incompetent. But it is up to the students/parents to pay attention and point out errors. I wouldn’t, however, advise painting the entire guidance department poorly because of this one error. If there are lots of things going on, then once your kid graduates, (or before if you are brave), bring up specific examples to the head of guidance and possibly the principal.
We found guidance counselors were overworked and could not provide individual attention. One request for transcripts was missed, causing my daughter to lose out on dollars/acceptance at UA. Not that it mattered; she’s happy with her choice of colleges. Parents are the guidance counselors. Be sure you or your child get verification on all actions you need from the GC.
I had correct my kid’s GPA a few times, but I was always very polite about it. When it came time to check off if D2 was ranked top 5% or 1%, the GC rounded down to 1%.
Their numbers are clearly wrong, and I have to wonder about someone who gets a GPA below any actual grades and doesn’t question their calculations.
If you put in the weightings into your spreadsheet, does your weighted calculation agree with the official weighted calculation? Out of curiosity, I tried to check my daughter’s Powerschool GPA and the numbers did not agree. I think I understand why, and one of the reasons is that apparently Powerschool is not including her current year’s courses in the GPA. I couldn’t see how to get the numbers to agree without assuming this. I’m not sure how/whether courses in progress are normally included in the GPA. Perhaps your school used more zeros as they did with PE, which is obviously not the way to handle it, but could explain why their GPA calculation came out so low.
I had my kid’s GPA recalculated just like most of you. Maybe there’s something about calculations that they miss. I was almost furious back then because she needed the GPA to join her much-awaited activity and she was missing I think a simple .70 or something.
Frankly, AFTER your kid graduates, I’d escalate it. There’s no excuse for someone calculating a GPA that is lower than your kid’s lowest grade and not thinking “hmmm, this can’t be”, and the lack of mathematical literacy should be called out.
We had the same thing happen. I contacted my child’s calculus teacher and showed him our spreadsheet. He was very helpful with fixing things with the guidance department. It helped that he had two high school students of his own in our school.
@mathyone FWIW GPA calculations in any school I have ever been associated with (only a handful between me and my kids) have never included courses in progress. You have not earned a credit or a grade until the course is complete. None of those schools have even listed the courses in progress on the transcript. I am unfamiliar with PowerSchool though.
You’d think GPA calculations would be easy. The numbers are in the computer and it calculates it. Our school only accounted “academic” courses. What exactly was counted though was a mystery to me. I tried calculate my younger son’s weighted GPA every which way to get it to agree with his official one. Couldn’t do it. Since it was higher than I thought it should be, I let it go. I thought there was a good chance that colleges would look at all those 98s and 99s in orchestra and discount them anyway, leaving him with a GPA a good deal lower than the official one.
Our school was mandated to switch over to PowerSchool and there were all sorts of problems with transcripts (double-counting, missing courses,etc) It was so bad in our state our entire state UC system was aware of it. Another thing that happened was in the spring (when scholarship apps are often due) they moved the juniors graduating early (Dec) into the senior class. Everyone’s ranking (on transcripts) changed. The sealed transcripts rankings and class size was different depending on when requested. Lots of kids reported ranking/class size did not match their submitted transcripts. Several of the Juniors had high GPAs and Seniors moved down in rank.
CHECK CHECK CHECK and ask if/when they add the Juniors into the Senior class!
My son missed his final exams in middle school with permission. We took a family cruise and they were fine with it. As soon as we returned he made up the exams and the grades went into power school and he made all "A"s for the semester and year. A month or two went by and I looked into Powerschool and most of his classes had turned to B grades, including geometry, which would go on his high-school transcript. Somehow, because his exam grades were put in the system late they didn’t “stay” there.
We haven’t kept up with their report cards each year. We ought to.
@mathmom your experience is similar to ours. Our D’s academic GPA mysteriously went down from 4,875 at the 6th semester to 4.850 at the 7th semester, even though her 7th semester grades were all A’s in six honors classes and worth 5 points each. The guidance department at our mid-size public high school couldn’t explain it and acted like the process of GPA calculation was a mysterious black box that couldn’t be explained. I banged my head against the wall (metaphorically ) for a while and then gave up. By that point D had been admitted to her top choice school so it didn’t really matter.
) for a while and then gave up. By that point D had been admitted to her top choice school so it didn’t really matter.