<p>my point is merit looks at a gpa, it is calculated the same for a kid in NJ as for the kid in VA. >>></p>
<p>The group's studies showed that 55% of colleges DO NOT recalculate GPA's. They look at the one on the transcript and use that for admission and scholarships. So if a scholarship has a cutoff of 3.8, the transcript needs to show a 3.8</p>
<p>^^This makes sense to me. Some schools do not offer APs, so if gpas were recalulated the kiddo who goes to a school with no APs or 1-2 APs could be at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>The kiddo who takes 5+ APs and has a 3.0 uw might be at a disadvantage when compared with the student who has a 3.5 and never took any honor or AP classes. For merit scholarships they might compare both gpas as equal.</p>
<p>In both cases I find charts that compare gpas very unfair.</p>
<p>As far as the rigor of FCPS schools are concerned, that will not go down as a result of 10 point scale. Teachers will make sure that their grade distribution template remains the same, even though the school system will vehemently deny that (hypocrites!). However, adding extra points for Honors and AP (the other thing that was fought for) will bump up GPAs for the students and will make them eligible for scholarships/insurance etc as these evaluations do not take into account the rigor of FCPS schools.</p>
<p>A relevant question is: is GPA distribution the sole indicator of rigor? what about the achievments of students in school work and external testing? FCPS does pretty well in that and it is not clear how that will be adversely affected by the grading scale changes.</p>
<p>As for admission to UVA/VT, NOVA students are actually at a disadvantage as these public schools take a large portion of their students from unerperforming counties of VA. Can you believe that for TJHSST (which takes only 450 top students from NOVA area), the acceptance rate in UVA for 3.5-4.0 GPA range is around 35-45%? Arguably 100% of those students are eligible for UVA if the same yardstick is applied across the counties.</p>
<p>Some people complain that a minority of parents have influenced this decision. Well, then why the majority is silent? They have access to the same forums and officials, don't they? I think the majority would like to enjoy the bump in GPA and complain about it too!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
The group's studies showed that 55% of colleges DO NOT recalculate GPA's. They look at the one on the transcript and use that for admission and scholarships. So if a scholarship has a cutoff of 3.8, the transcript needs to show a 3.8
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Okay so an A is lowered to a 90 which equals 3.6 4.0 x 90 = 3.6
Now what is the gpa for a B 90...3.6</p>
<p>The gpa doesn't change it is computed by the percentile grade. My DD is on a 7 pt scale, an A is 93, now when DS was in NC and went to CC for jump start (the grades showed up on his hs transcript) it was 10 pts there. His transcript showed the letter A, but his showed 3.6</p>
<p>In the end for me, it wouldn't matter, I find the issue too petty. Again, I would rather sign a petition that the school system be reuired to reduce class size than this. </p>
<p>It is a fallacy, or at least every school system my kids were in, (NJ, VA, NC, KS, AK)...that the letter A on whatever scale it is 6,7 or 10 is converted to the same gpa. </p>
<p>In the 5 schools our DS applied to, on his college app, they all asked for his UW and his W. On his collegeboard SAT report, these same 5 schools received has SATs via them. On the bottom, he had 5 different GPA's. They ranged from 3.48 to 3.73 for uw. His uw was 3.48 according to our school, his w was 4.17. The schools were NYU Stern, Univ of Notre Dame, AFA, Univ of Miami and Univ of MD. He took only APs and jump start his sr yr, APs and honors in his jr. Obviously, they all had a different weighting system. We re told, which may not be true, that certain colleges remove courses like PE, Chorus, Band, Teen living etc. </p>
<p>I asked DS today if he was on a 7 or 10 at UMD...he said BOTH, certain classes are 10 point (typically math and science), and then others are on 7. I never saw his actual report card from UMD, but he showed us online that he had a 3.6 for 1st semester. I went and asked for his password to look at the transcript. His 88 for econ was 3.32, (10 pt) his 94 for Poli sci was 3.76 (7 pt).</p>
<p>I also do agree with xpledcs, FCPS teachers will change their grading policy, so if they are forced into the 90, then the kid who was at 93, will probably be at 89. Fairfax takes great pride in their education system. Every yr when the Newsweek, Time mag comes out with the top 100 scores in the nation, those hs boast with pride that they made it. They celebrate it like a badge of honor. TJ and Fairfax were ticked when they were removed from the list because they are magnet, and always a top 10 if not the top 1 in the nation. For this yr TJ is number 1 in the nation according to US news Best</a> High Schools: Gold Medal List - US News and World Report</p>
<p>If you look at Newsweek, I think every hs in Fairfax is in the top 200 in the NATION...they all want to stay on the list.America's</a> Top Public High Schools | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com</p>
<p>B&P,
Fairgrade is a movement motivated by Fairfax's parents' pocketbooks. Fairgrade acknowledges that Virginia public and private schools are aware of Fairfax's grading system and their proposed changes will probably not impact admissions/scholarship awards in Virginia.
However, Fairgrade makes a compelling case for changing the system to make students more competitve for merit awards and programs in out-of-state schools. </p>
<p>Also FCPS has 168,742 students in the system. So that is approximately 15,000 kids in each grade. If we make the argument that high school parents care about Fairgrade, then approximately 60,000 families might be concerned about the grading system. Fairgrade was able to quickly get 10,000 signatures on its petition. I wouldn't say that this is a tiny minority of parents driving this movement!</p>
<p>And I think your argument that parents are supporting this movement simply for bragging rights is completely idiotic.</p>
<p>One last link.</p>
<p>FCPS students score on avg 130 more pts on their SAT than the nation. Education is important here. If we are talking merit scholarships being reviewed on SAT/ACTs than they have a leg up and the pt is moot.</p>
<p>Okay so an A is lowered to a 90 which equals 3.6 4.0 x 90 = 3.6>>></p>
<p>I'm confused. </p>
<p>An A=4.0. A B=3.0. There is no 3.6 in the scale. The possibility of a 90 being an A- and equal to a 3.7 and a 89 being a B+ equal to 3.3 is on the table in FCPS.</p>
<p>Fairfax students have higher SAT averages than both the state and the nation, yet GPAs are lower because of the grading scale. That is where the disadvantage with scholarships is coming in - kids need a XXX SAT AND a X.X GPA. They have SAT scores weigh above what is required, but the GPA is lacking, so either there is no scholarship or a smaller one. </p>
<p>My DD attended FCPS for 3 years, then we moved to a state that does not weight. She had two B+s on her transcript, took a total of 31 classes in high school and did not graduate in the top 10% of her class. Those two B+s killed her GPA in comparison to the local kids, yet they had taken few or no honors/AP courses, while she took college courses and got As. Those kids were eligible for scholarships for 4.0s, yet she was not - because of two 93s. That is part of the rationale.</p>
<p>There are 170,000 kids in the district so it affects a lot of them.</p>
<p>I just read the report.</p>
<p>It seems that an issue in the matter was AP or honor students weren't getting any weight added. Now that I can go with. If your child is taking APs they should be given more pts towards their gpa, than somebody who loads their coarse load with electives.</p>
<p>APs currently get an extra .5 added. The proposal is to change that to a 1.0 and add in a .5 for honors courses.</p>
<p>PW gives that right now (1= AP, .5 = Honors)</p>
<p>PW gives that right now (1= AP, .5 = Honors)>></p>
<p>So does Montgomery, so two neighboring districts do. That is part of the push to make it "fair."</p>