MCPS Grading Policy

[Anonymous]

23:21 great answer. Still why cant all high school classes taken in middle school get that extra point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait. My son will take Geometry in 8th grade. If he gets a 4 out of 4, are you saying that he might have gotten a 5 out of 5 had he taken the course in high school?

I'm pretty sure that only Honors Geometry is offered at the Middle School level. Students who are ready to take Geometry in middle school are advanced enough to be in an honors class. Regular on-level Geometry is offered at the high schools, because some of the students may not be that talented in the math arena.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:23:21 great answer. Still why cant all high school classes taken in middle school get that extra point?

Why does it matter? This is a sincere question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:23:21 great answer. Still why cant all high school classes taken in middle school get that extra point?

Because they don't represent the same level of work as a HS honors class... Honors classes usually have more projects and independent work. When the class is on your hs transcript is represents the class itself not when you took it. If you start with 1a/b in 6th and continue to 12..colleges will see you are committed to languages to a high level. Weighted GPAs are very school system dependent so you are only competing with MCPS kids. Some school systems only give the extra point for AP. OP is quibbling over nothing.

[Anonymous]

The extra point matters in GPA calculations for the very tippy top of the class. In some high schools, top graduating GPAs are greater than 4.0 because the student got so many As in classes where the A was worth 5 points rather than the normal 4.

[Anonymous]

OP. We found this too - DD took Alg 1 and Language 1 and 2 in MS. None of those were weighted grades and even though DD got As in all 3 classes, it actually hurts/drags down her GPA. Now that she is applying to college. None of these classes were "honors" and no "honors" version was offered. I'm not sure if that was county-wide or just our school which is high FARMS.

By contrast, Geometry was offered in 8th grade at "honoes" level and DD did get weighted points for it.

Personally, I think the solution is that MS kids should be able to opt MS classes off their HS transcript if they don't need the class for graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The extra point matters in GPA calculations for the very tippy top of the class. In some high schools, top graduating GPAs are greater than 4.0 because the student got so many As in classes where the A was worth 5 points rather than the normal 4.

But since MCPS doesn't do class ranks by GPA (or by anything else), why does it matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. We found this too - DD took Alg 1 and Language 1 and 2 in MS. None of those were weighted grades and even though DD got As in all 3 classes, it actually hurts/drags down her GPA. Now that she is applying to college. None of these classes were "honors" and no "honors" version was offered. I'm not sure if that was county-wide or just our school which is high FARMS.

By contrast, Geometry was offered in 8th grade at "honoes" level and DD did get weighted points for it.

Personally, I think the solution is that MS kids should be able to opt MS classes off their HS transcript if they don't need the class for graduation.

Is the concern that hypothetically, a child who took less challenging classes in middle school might undeservingly have a higher GPA than your daughter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. We found this too - DD took Alg 1 and Language 1 and 2 in MS. None of those were weighted grades and even though DD got As in all 3 classes, it actually hurts/drags down her GPA. Now that she is applying to college. None of these classes were "honors" and no "honors" version was offered. I'm not sure if that was county-wide or just our school which is high FARMS.

By contrast, Geometry was offered in 8th grade at "honoes" level and DD did get weighted points for it.

Personally, I think the solution is that MS kids should be able to opt MS classes off their HS transcript if they don't need the class for graduation.

But, this is the same for everyone. ALL MCPS kids need to take Language 1 and 2, which are not honors classes anywhere. And, they all need to take Algebra, which is also not an honors class. Everyone is in the same boat, so no one has a comparative advantage or disadvantage. There is no issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. We found this too - DD took Alg 1 and Language 1 and 2 in MS. None of those were weighted grades and even though DD got As in all 3 classes, it actually hurts/drags down her GPA. Now that she is applying to college. None of these classes were "honors" and no "honors" version was offered. I'm not sure if that was county-wide or just our school which is high FARMS.

By contrast, Geometry was offered in 8th grade at "honoes" level and DD did get weighted points for it.

Personally, I think the solution is that MS kids should be able to opt MS classes off their HS transcript if they don't need the class for graduation.

It does not bring down her GPA compared to other MCPS kids who all had the same system. Some school systems do not weight grades at all. GPAs are just not comparable. Guess what there is no honors PE either. No one graduates with a 5.0. There is honors health but not sure about Tech or Arts credits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP. We found this too - DD took Alg 1 and Language 1 and 2 in MS. None of those were weighted grades and even though DD got As in all 3 classes, it actually hurts/drags down her GPA. Now that she is applying to college. None of these classes were "honors" and no "honors" version was offered. I'm not sure if that was county-wide or just our school which is high FARMS.

By contrast, Geometry was offered in 8th grade at "honoes" level and DD did get weighted points for it.

Personally, I think the solution is that MS kids should be able to opt MS classes off their HS transcript if they don't need the class for graduation.

But, this is the same for everyone. ALL MCPS kids need to take Language 1 and 2, which are not honors classes anywhere. And, they all need to take Algebra, which is also not an honors class. Everyone is in the same boat, so no one has a comparative advantage or disadvantage. There is no issue.

+1, there isn't issue. Honors does not start in Math until Geometry and does not start in Language until Level 3. It is not that the class is being taught in MS.