Fed up with MCPS Grading Policies

[Anonymous]

Dr. Taylor admitted at a board meeting in September that there is grade inflation in MCPS: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1230221.page

So the question is: What is he going to do about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. It's the quarter system grading that is so odd. You get a B one quarter and an A the next, you get an A for the semester. That's what really throws everything off. It should be based on the average percentage of the two quarters as it used to be.

Actally, it used to be based on a weighted average of the two grades together with the overall final, with a round up based on whether the trend was up. So a B in Q1 and an A in Q2 (or vice versa) would be an overall A or a B based what you got on the final.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior is starting to receive their college decisions, and while they are doing fine (UMD honors, etc.), I'm getting more furious every time I think about their HS grades.

Take 14 AP classes? Same GPA/WPGA as a kid who takes 14 honors classes. Earn grades between 94 and 100 every single quarter in every single class in high school? Same GPA as a kid who gets 79.5 and 89.5 in their quarterly grades. I know colleges evaluate rigor, but if that 79.5/89.5 kid takes the same classes as my kid their rigor is identical.

So instead of maybe 20 or so kids who really stand out at each high school, you end up with 50+ kids applying to every top college.

I know small differences in academics can be outweighed during college admissions by ECs, jobs, volunteering, etc. But this grading system might as well be pass/fail.

Why did my kid put effort into her MCPS schooling? I guess the jokes on us. It would have been smarter just to coast through high school and still get As.

College create their own gpa and remove classes like health, theater and art grades while also prioritizing AP and IB courses.

Why do you think colleges remove classes like health, theater and art? That would pretty discriminatory for students who have major or minor interest in any of those topics. What makes AP Bio any more important than Adv Symphonic Band?

[Anonymous]

Colleges look at rigor in addition to the GPA.

What are you upset about exactly?

My kid busted their butt in HS and ended up at UMD honors / scholarship etc. Didn't get to put that Ivy bumper sticker on our car but we also didn't have to pay 400k for it either.

[Anonymous]

MANY colleges will also recompute their own GPA using their own criteria. AP & IB get a +1, but honors likely only gets a + 0.5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My senior is starting to receive their college decisions, and while they are doing fine (UMD honors, etc.), I'm getting more furious every time I think about their HS grades.

Take 14 AP classes? Same GPA/WPGA as a kid who takes 14 honors classes. Earn grades between 94 and 100 every single quarter in every single class in high school? Same GPA as a kid who gets 79.5 and 89.5 in their quarterly grades. I know colleges evaluate rigor, but if that 79.5/89.5 kid takes the same classes as my kid their rigor is identical.

So instead of maybe 20 or so kids who really stand out at each high school, you end up with 50+ kids applying to every top college.

I know small differences in academics can be outweighed during college admissions by ECs, jobs, volunteering, etc. But this grading system might as well be pass/fail.

Why did my kid put effort into her MCPS schooling? I guess the jokes on us. It would have been smarter just to coast through high school and still get As.

The answer for me at least is that that my kid takes those courses to actually learn skills and content. If it's really just about the grades/getting into college, then they take the courses and put in minimal effort to eke out an A. But the point of education in my view is to actually learn.

I agree that the grading system is not good -- but the BOE and central office, even with leadership changes, are not going to change it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Taylor admitted at a board meeting in September that there is grade inflation in MCPS: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1230221.page

So the question is: What is he going to do about it?

I'm not sure he saw it as "admitting" anything. It's a fact. I don't think he is going to do anything about it because I don't think he sees it as wrong.

[Anonymous]

The fact that honors classes get the same gpa boost as AP classes is a joke. Who even comes up with this crazy stuff

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact that honors classes get the same gpa boost as AP classes is a joke. Who even comes up with this crazy stuff

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

While it may not matter for overall HS GPA and Naviance, colleges have you put in your grades and selective ones most certainly recalculate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior is starting to receive their college decisions, and while they are doing fine (UMD honors, etc.), I'm getting more furious every time I think about their HS grades.

Take 14 AP classes? Same GPA/WPGA as a kid who takes 14 honors classes. Earn grades between 94 and 100 every single quarter in every single class in high school? Same GPA as a kid who gets 79.5 and 89.5 in their quarterly grades. https a I know colleges evaluate rigor, but if that 79.5/89.5 kid takes the same classes as my kid their rigor is identical.

So instead of maybe 20 or so kids who really stand out at each high school, you end up with 50+ kids applying to every top college.

I know small differences in academics can be outweighed during college admissions by ECs, jobs, volunteering, etc. But this grading system might as well be pass/fail.

Why did my kid put effort into her MCPS schooling? I guess the jokes on us. It would have been smarter just to coast through high school and still get As.

The bolded is a fact of every grading system I've ever encountered in my life. Even you're making cutoffs, why are you treating the kids making 94s and the kids making 97s as one group compared to the kids making 89.5s?

If MCPS included + and - on grades then yes a 94 would be an A and 97 would be an A+. Why not just keep things simple and report average for each class?

How is that keeping things simple? I think it's much simpler to use letter grades with A=4 and B=3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior is starting to receive their college decisions, and while they are doing fine (UMD honors, etc.), I'm getting more furious every time I think about their HS grades.

Take 14 AP classes? Same GPA/WPGA as a kid who takes 14 honors classes. Earn grades between 94 and 100 every single quarter in every single class in high school? Same GPA as a kid who gets 79.5 and 89.5 in their quarterly grades. I know colleges evaluate rigor, but if that 79.5/89.5 kid takes the same classes as my kid their rigor is identical.

So instead of maybe 20 or so kids who really stand out at each high school, you end up with 50+ kids applying to every top college.

I know small differences in academics can be outweighed during college admissions by ECs, jobs, volunteering, etc. But this grading system might as well be pass/fail.

Why did my kid put effort into her MCPS schooling? I guess the jokes on us. It would have been smarter just to coast through high school and still get As.

College create their own gpa and remove classes like health, theater and art grades while also prioritizing AP and IB courses.

Why do you think colleges remove classes like health, theater and art? That would pretty discriminatory for students who have major or minor interest in any of those topics. What makes AP Bio any more important than Adv Symphonic Band?

Your last question is simple to answer- the college who chooses to remove those courses from the GPA or recalculate the GPA consider AP bio more important than Advanced Symphonic Band. If you don’t agree, don’t apply to that school.

[Anonymous]

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/1255144.page#29383434

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior is starting to receive their college decisions, and while they are doing fine (UMD honors, etc.), I'm getting more furious every time I think about their HS grades.

Take 14 AP classes? Same GPA/WPGA as a kid who takes 14 honors classes. Earn grades between 94 and 100 every single quarter in every single class in high school? Same GPA as a kid who gets 79.5 and 89.5 in their quarterly grades. I know colleges evaluate rigor, but if that 79.5/89.5 kid takes the same classes as my kid their rigor is identical.

So instead of maybe 20 or so kids who really stand out at each high school, you end up with 50+ kids applying to every top college.

I know small differences in academics can be outweighed during college admissions by ECs, jobs, volunteering, etc. But this grading system might as well be pass/fail.

Why did my kid put effort into her MCPS schooling? I guess the jokes on us. It would have been smarter just to coast through high school and still get As.

College create their own gpa and remove classes like health, theater and art grades while also prioritizing AP and IB courses.

Why do you think colleges remove classes like health, theater and art? That would pretty discriminatory for students who have major or minor interest in any of those topics. What makes AP Bio any more important than Adv Symphonic Band?

Symphonic or the highest band is a joke at our school. A lot of kids take 2-4 music classes so why should that count as much as a kid taking real rigor. I’m shocked at how many kids don’t do academic vs multiple band classes.

[Anonymous]

The colleges review the content of the transcript. They know who is taking honors vs. AP. The most competitive places also review regionally, so they know their high schools.