PG has lost its mind with the new grading policy.

[Anonymous]

Instead of a cumalative 60 to pass a single class, now they just need a 50. Do parents even know about this? I suspect no one really care/aware but wanted to highlight it.

[Anonymous]

It does no one any favors to lower the standards so much. Yes PG can show higher graduation rates which is I guess who benefits but then really what’s the point of these kids even attending school anymore.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure that functionally it's any different than the policy that other local districts have where you can't get anything lower than a 50. It's pretty easy to get a 60 if nothing is lower than a 50.
So, I guess mathematically, the PGCPS system is more challenging than the MoCo or AACPS systems.

[Anonymous]

The new grading scale (I don't have it with me) would allow students to make 3 F's and 1 C to pass a year class. Too many students failing and gotta move them up and out.

[Anonymous]

Wow!!! Terrible plan!

[Anonymous]

It is a major disservice to students! A 2.5 is now a B. Colleges will not follow this and students will be very disappointed when they are not able to get into certain schools because they think they are a B student, but colleges see a C student.

[Anonymous]

Culture of low expectations, and then they wonder why these kids can't get higher paying jobs and live in a cycle of poverty. Oh, and of course, they want universal basic income to help them out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a major disservice to students! A 2.5 is now a B. Colleges will not follow this and students will be very disappointed when they are not able to get into certain schools because they think they are a B student, but colleges see a C student.

Wait….what? A B is a 3.0 now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a major disservice to students! A 2.5 is now a B. Colleges will not follow this and students will be very disappointed when they are not able to get into certain schools because they think they are a B student, but colleges see a C student.

Wait….what? A B is a 3.0 now?

I meant isn’t a 3.0

[Anonymous]

Can someone please post a link where this is explained. All I can see is that the final grade for the year would be determined by the average of the quarter grades. So if somone got 2 Cs and 2 Bs (which is a 2.5) they would end up with a final letter grade of a B. I didn't know this wasn't always the case.
I also thought that they did a cumulative GPA not just the end of the year grades for the GPA.

[Anonymous]

I looked at it and it isn't great. I'm not sure if it is out of line with other districts.
Previously they gave numerical grades for the quarter grades and then averaged those for the final grade. So if a student had a 81,81,71,71 for the 4 quarters they would end up with an average grade of 76 and a C.
New policy is letter grades for each quarter which are then averaged so that kid would have a B, B, C, C and end up with a B at the end of the year. This could really impact the kids at the top of the class who are in the running for valedictorian etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I looked at it and it isn't great. I'm not sure if it is out of line with other districts.
Previously they gave numerical grades for the quarter grades and then averaged those for the final grade. So if a student had a 81,81,71,71 for the 4 quarters they would end up with an average grade of 76 and a C.
New policy is letter grades for each quarter which are then averaged so that kid would have a B, B, C, C and end up with a B at the end of the year. This could really impact the kids at the top of the class who are in the running for valedictorian etc.

When I taught in Baltimore County in the early 2000s, the averaging of letter grades was how it was done. We were encouraged to give kids who failed the first two quarters Ds the 3rd quarter so they would be motivated to pass. So a kid could definitely get 0s the first 3 quarters and a C the last quarter and pass a class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I looked at it and it isn't great. I'm not sure if it is out of line with other districts.
Previously they gave numerical grades for the quarter grades and then averaged those for the final grade. So if a student had a 81,81,71,71 for the 4 quarters they would end up with an average grade of 76 and a C.
New policy is letter grades for each quarter which are then averaged so that kid would have a B, B, C, C and end up with a B at the end of the year. This could really impact the kids at the top of the class who are in the running for valedictorian etc.

Do they have valedictorians these days in PG?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at it and it isn't great. I'm not sure if it is out of line with other districts.
Previously they gave numerical grades for the quarter grades and then averaged those for the final grade. So if a student had a 81,81,71,71 for the 4 quarters they would end up with an average grade of 76 and a C.
New policy is letter grades for each quarter which are then averaged so that kid would have a B, B, C, C and end up with a B at the end of the year. This could really impact the kids at the top of the class who are in the running for valedictorian etc.

Do they have valedictorians these days in PG?

Yes. Why wouldn’t they?
There are some amazing students in the county.

https://www.pgcps.org/offices/communications-and-community-engagement/newsroom/graduation-class-of-2023-grad-szn/2023-valedictorians-and-salutatorians

[Anonymous]

they want high graduation rates, if a student is 1-2 points away from passing we need to pass them..