Question about senior year report card grading at private schools

[Anonymous]

For moms at private schools, do you feel your school's senior year Q1 report/progress report are accurate to your children's grades? or the school/teachers give "better" grades to help with college admissions?

E.g. based on actual work (tests, HW, class participation, etc), the grades may add up to an actual C, but the report card shows B- or B.

Do you feel/see any privates that help "fudge" a bit? Please also share your location if possible (NY, DMV area, etc).

[Anonymous]

I thought GPA is compared within school not cross schools, even if this is the case, why would it matter

[Anonymous]

I saw teachers being lenient with subjective assignment grading just before the end of the first quarter---like not being as harsh with an English essay (giving an A minus when typically no As are given) or giving kids the opportunity to do an in-class math problem set as a group in multivariable calculus to help boost grades.

But nothing like rounding up an actual quarter grade.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get the impression that DC’s VA private HS does that.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean the first semester grades? We don’t have Q1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought GPA is compared within school not cross schools, even if this is the case, why would it matter

Well no selective college wants to see C’s, even from a school they know to be challenging.

[Anonymous]

Ours (top private, west coast) was not lenient. DC received first B+ ever on the Q1 report card, which was requested by the SCEA school. Thank goodness DC was admitted in spite of the Q1.

[Anonymous]

Because our school (DMV area) only has official semester grades, students are given a window of time of about 2 weeks where they can choose to freeze their interim grades to be reported to universities. So if your grades are great at the beginning of that window and you know you have a difficult test coming up, you can choose to have those grades sent. Or if you think you could improve your grades within that window, you can wait. DD had her grades sent at the beginning of the window and they were straight As.

[Anonymous]

My kids attended rigorous Baltimore privates. No easing up first semester senior year. Second semester, yes.

[Anonymous]

NY private. No leniency. Last fall, my strong student bombed a physics project. Wasn't a test, i dont think he realized its impact and clearly didnt put in the effort - was super busy writing college essays. Anyway, this straight A kid was given a D+ on the assignment. No retakes, no extra credit. No way to improve that grade. Kid was looking at a potential C for QI. Kid clawed his way up to a B- for Q1 college reporting (had to literally ace the remaining q1 assessments). Thankfully, kid was accepted ED but it was stressful. (And he finished the semester with an A- but by then it didnt matter). All other classes were equally accurate. I was surprised yet also impressed with their integrity.

[Anonymous]

It’s tougher !!! My kid got first B.

[Anonymous]

Our mid-Atlantic private (not DMV) didn’t have quarter grades(only semester grades). They did send a “progress report” to colleges which were definitely not inflated or fudged. Grades are based upon assessments/essays only, top rigor class grades did not include homework or other work to prop up the grades. No retakes or test corrections. So if your kid didn’t ace the first exam their grade tanked.

[Anonymous]

Not at our private school. Our school always gives lower grades at the first quarter, but always raises as the classes progress. No one gets A in the first quarter. Kids have to work very hard to earn their Bs. Some get Cs in the first quarter. Senior year is the same.

[Anonymous]

No leniency whatsoever at our private, can't wait to be done honestly, not much compassion.

[Anonymous]

No easing up. Difficult AP physics C test and BC calc test days before quarter ended. Many kids had B+s for first time as a result.