Do you think GPAs have gone down with new grading policies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, having third kid in HS now, the new grading system is definitely affecting GPA. It used to be that quizzes, class work and small projects could bring your grade up. Now they have a marginal effect. It is hard to compare as one kid was in during the Covid years where leniency was on overload. Middle kid HS experience was when they transition away from the Covid leniency and things became “normal”. The 70:30 split now(third kid had 1year of old grading system ) has been a bit rough. Studying habits are good, never an issue. And they are doing fine just more B/B+ than A’s. They sometimes just fall on the cusp and not in favor of the A but so close. It will be interesting to see how our 4th child does. Arlington mixed the 70:30 after only one semester.

Speaking of Arlington, the max you can get on a retake is 80%. So if you were hoping for an A, you are out of luck unless you get it the first time around. Most of my kid’s teachers still count summatives much more heavily than formatives (I’d say at least 70/30), so an 80% on one test pretty much means no chance of an A that quarter.

[Anonymous]

I remember going to our oldest child' ninth grade FCPS awards ceremony pre-covid and the principal asked all ninth graders with a 4.0 to please stand. Two thirds of the class stood up. People clapped. My spouse and I laughed out loud at the obvious grade inflation on display. We got a few odd looks from other parents, but come on. We parents know that back in our day a 4.0 was very rarified air. When two-thirds of the class has a perfect grade point, it's rendered meaningless. It means that school has become too easy. It means the administration and teachers are too afraid of the parents to grade appropriately and honestly. It's all a big sham.

[Anonymous]

People talk about grade inflation like there NEEDS to be a certain portion of the class getting a C or an F, but why? Shouldn’t the goal be for every kid to gain mastery of the subject matter? If learning, rather than bragging rights, is really the point, more kids should be getting higher grades. Same with test retakes. Of course there need to be standards, but the goal should be for as many kids as possible to learn and do well, not to gatekeep A’s for only a few top kids just so they can distinguish themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, having third kid in HS now, the new grading system is definitely affecting GPA. It used to be that quizzes, class work and small projects could bring your grade up. Now they have a marginal effect. It is hard to compare as one kid was in during the Covid years where leniency was on overload. Middle kid HS experience was when they transition away from the Covid leniency and things became “normal”. The 70:30 split now(third kid had 1year of old grading system ) has been a bit rough. Studying habits are good, never an issue. And they are doing fine just more B/B+ than A’s. They sometimes just fall on the cusp and not in favor of the A but so close. It will be interesting to see how our 4th child does. Arlington mixed the 70:30 after only one semester.

Speaking of Arlington, the max you can get on a retake is 80%. So if you were hoping for an A, you are out of luck unless you get it the first time around. Most of my kid’s teachers still count summatives much more heavily than formatives (I’d say at least 70/30), so an 80% on one test pretty much means no chance of an A that quarter.

This is what it used to be in FCPS with the old grading split. You could get up to an80% on a retake. Last year FCPS implemented the new 70/30 split and you could do summative retakes for up to 100%(in our HS the retakes were harder than the actual-which is probably a good thing). This year the retakes are up to 90%. I suspect next year they will change it to re takes up to 80%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember going to our oldest child' ninth grade FCPS awards ceremony pre-covid and the principal asked all ninth graders with a 4.0 to please stand. Two thirds of the class stood up. People clapped. My spouse and I laughed out loud at the obvious grade inflation on display. We got a few odd looks from other parents, but come on. We parents know that back in our day a 4.0 was very rarified air. When two-thirds of the class has a perfect grade point, it's rendered meaningless. It means that school has become too easy. It means the administration and teachers are too afraid of the parents to grade appropriately and honestly. It's all a big sham.

you know some of those kids also just stood because everyone else got up. Plus, you described an “award” ceremony. Most kids that are attending a ceremony to get a 9th grade (so HS level)award are going to be the kids that do well in school. I’m not knocking grade inflation issue, I do think it varies by school as well as by class/teacher and FCPS is trying to level it all now.

[Anonymous]

Interested in this as my 11th grader has more A- and B+s in core classes (AP level). I’ve watched some college admissions videos where kids are dinged for even a single B or B+. Hoping my kid is not doing worse than most kids at their school (obviously, she’s doing worse than some people!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the emphasis on assessments and retakes only to 90, do you think grades are as high as they have been in the past? Wondering especially for those in honors and AP classes. I know we hear about grade inflation a lot, but this seems like a high bar to meet. Would love to hear from any teachers as well, who see a broader cross section of grades.

The retake policy seems to be something that came out of COVID or was seriously adjusted in COVID. I remember people discussing retakes only to an 80% on an exam. Enough incentive for kids who failed or had lower grades and wanted to improve them but not so high as to disincentivize studying for kids aiming for better grades.

There is no reason to give kids retakes to try and get an A from an A-. Students who are serious about school need to learn to prioritize their time and study for the test on the test date. If they get a B, they get a B.

Personally, I would adjust the policy further and only allow retakes up to a 75%. That gives kids who are struggling or skipping or whatever some grace to recoop their grade without rewarding kids for blowing off studying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the emphasis on assessments and retakes only to 90, do you think grades are as high as they have been in the past? Wondering especially for those in honors and AP classes. I know we hear about grade inflation a lot, but this seems like a high bar to meet. Would love to hear from any teachers as well, who see a broader cross section of grades.

The retake policy seems to be something that came out of COVID or was seriously adjusted in COVID. I remember people discussing retakes only to an 80% on an exam. Enough incentive for kids who failed or had lower grades and wanted to improve them but not so high as to disincentivize studying for kids aiming for better grades.

There is no reason to give kids retakes to try and get an A from an A-. Students who are serious about school need to learn to prioritize their time and study for the test on the test date. If they get a B, they get a B.

Personally, I would adjust the policy further and only allow retakes up to a 75%. That gives kids who are struggling or skipping or whatever some grace to recoop their grade without rewarding kids for blowing off studying.

If a B or B+ or even C can retake to try for A- that is as much a “grade grab” as if A- tries for A so either allow retakes for all up to 100% (or go crazy and set at 92.5 the lowest A) or just let those who have F try for a D or C if generous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the emphasis on assessments and retakes only to 90, do you think grades are as high as they have been in the past? Wondering especially for those in honors and AP classes. I know we hear about grade inflation a lot, but this seems like a high bar to meet. Would love to hear from any teachers as well, who see a broader cross section of grades.

The retake policy seems to be something that came out of COVID or was seriously adjusted in COVID. I remember people discussing retakes only to an 80% on an exam. Enough incentive for kids who failed or had lower grades and wanted to improve them but not so high as to disincentivize studying for kids aiming for better grades.

There is no reason to give kids retakes to try and get an A from an A-. Students who are serious about school need to learn to prioritize their time and study for the test on the test date. If they get a B, they get a B.

Personally, I would adjust the policy further and only allow retakes up to a 75%. That gives kids who are struggling or skipping or whatever some grace to recoop their grade without rewarding kids for blowing off studying.

+1

70% or 75% should be the max allowed on a retake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, having third kid in HS now, the new grading system is definitely affecting GPA. It used to be that quizzes, class work and small projects could bring your grade up. Now they have a marginal effect. It is hard to compare as one kid was in during the Covid years where leniency was on overload. Middle kid HS experience was when they transition away from the Covid leniency and things became “normal”. The 70:30 split now(third kid had 1year of old grading system ) has been a bit rough. Studying habits are good, never an issue. And they are doing fine just more B/B+ than A’s. They sometimes just fall on the cusp and not in favor of the A but so close. It will be interesting to see how our 4th child does. Arlington mixed the 70:30 after only one semester.

Speaking of Arlington, the max you can get on a retake is 80%. So if you were hoping for an A, you are out of luck unless you get it the first time around. Most of my kid’s teachers still count summatives much more heavily than formatives (I’d say at least 70/30), so an 80% on one test pretty much means no chance of an A that quarter.

This is what it used to be in FCPS with the old grading split. You could get up to an80% on a retake. Last year FCPS implemented the new 70/30 split and you could do summative retakes for up to 100%(in our HS the retakes were harder than the actual-which is probably a good thing). This year the retakes are up to 90%. I suspect next year they will change it to re takes up to 80%.

In DD's school, retakes are significantly harder than the original tests, which are challenging to begin with. This is across multiple classes. For instance, she just retook a test, where the original test was 35 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions. Her retake was 50 multiple choice and 17 short answer questions. The only reason she did well on the retake (and she didn't think she had) and not on the original, was that she got very sick on the day of the original test, and should probably not have taken it in the first place. The first time she attempted a retake, she scored 14 points lower on the retake.

This is sort of a theme, to the point where after the last retake in a different class, the teacher decided that today's test was not just going to be on new material, but on the old material as well, because so many kids did so terribly.

To OP's question, DD currently has 3 A-, and she's generally a straight As student who usually gets those with room to spare. This year, she will likely end up with at least one, maybe two A-, despite working much harder than she has had to previously.

[Anonymous]

I think the retake up to 100 was not a Covid thing. It was added when the ratio of Summative to Formative switched so dramatically. If summative counted for so much, they wanted to give kids a chance to bring it up. My impression was that they realized that 100 didn't make sense (it doesn't). The teachers thought it was ridiculous and made it very unappealing to do a retake- you had to do so much extra work just to be allowed to take harder test. As a result, the kids doing the most retakes were the strongest students... in other words, it wasn't enticing the kids who really needed to learn new material as much as it was getting the stronger students to try to up their grades.

[Anonymous]

In my experience (HS Teacher) grades overall have gone up, but students at large do less. I have students with 99.99%s but also a lot of students who are doing poorly because they do not turn anything in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Grades are ridiculously inflated. It is so out of control, and has been for a number of years, that people now think it is normal for a kid who can't pass an SOL to have a 4.25 or for an entire class to have A's.

There needs to be a huge overhaul in grading. Do not allow retakes at all. Do not allow late submissions other than when a kid has an excused absence.

The grade inflation is out of hand.

Once FCPS teacher actually start teaching again and caring we can talk about grades. Grade inflation is not happening at every school and honestly the bigger problem is how many high school teachers put everything on slides and shrug their shoulders when kids are getting the material. Every parent I know has tutors because students are not being taught in classes. There are some good teachers but they are far and few between. It's hurting the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Grades are ridiculously inflated. It is so out of control, and has been for a number of years, that people now think it is normal for a kid who can't pass an SOL to have a 4.25 or for an entire class to have A's.

There needs to be a huge overhaul in grading. Do not allow retakes at all. Do not allow late submissions other than when a kid has an excused absence.

The grade inflation is out of hand.

Once FCPS teacher actually start teaching again and caring we can talk about grades. Grade inflation is not happening at every school and honestly the bigger problem is how many high school teachers put everything on slides and shrug their shoulders when kids are NOT getting the material. Every parent I know has tutors because students are not being taught in classes. There are some good teachers but they are far and few between. It's hurting the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Grades are ridiculously inflated. It is so out of control, and has been for a number of years, that people now think it is normal for a kid who can't pass an SOL to have a 4.25 or for an entire class to have A's.

There needs to be a huge overhaul in grading. Do not allow retakes at all. Do not allow late submissions other than when a kid has an excused absence.

The grade inflation is out of hand.

Once FCPS teacher actually start teaching again and caring we can talk about grades. Grade inflation is not happening at every school and honestly the bigger problem is how many high school teachers put everything on slides and shrug their shoulders when kids are getting the material. Every parent I know has tutors because students are not being taught in classes. There are some good teachers but they are far and few between. It's hurting the kids.

+1 this exactly.