50% of all high school seniors have an A average GPA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I would love to see a 100 point scale, and a push towards greater consistency nationwide. I admit our private school gives a lot of credit in taking AP exams even for the unweighted GPA- I.e a B grade preAP gets up to an A if you get a 5 on the exam. But an A stays an A. So a college really has no way of differentiating our top students.

Yup. It's totally bullsh*t kids are given A's in an AP class, then either skip the end of year AP Exam or score 1 2 3. If you can't get a 4 or 5 you don't deserve an A. But AP exam scores don't release until the summer, which I'm sure is intentional. College Board (owner of SAT, AP, and all the fee-based admissions financial aid crap you have to do) is a total racket.

And teachers don't give a damn if everyone has an easy A. Nobody complains and parents are none-the-wiser until it's too late, e.g. kid bombs AP Exams, kid bombs SAT in 11th, kid fails out of college.

This has not been my experience. Both of my children scored 4s and 5s on their APs and they basically correlated to their Bs and As in the classes.

[Anonymous]

Generally kids should be getting 5s on AP exams if they truly grasped the content. A 5 correlates to a score as low as 60% on the exams, depending on the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I don’t understand the logic behind “test optional” admisssions. In this world of everyone gets a trophy, it’s the only standardized measure by which schools can compare students. When I read college confidential and someone claims to have an unweighted 4.0 and a 1120 SAT, my eyebrows go up. So many schools have rampant grade inflation that you just can’t compare GPAs from one school to another.

And yes, I know, some kids aren’t good at timed tests...but 90% of school grades are based on timed tests also. Students who need accommodations on tests in school also get accommodations on standardized tests.

The other possibility is that this proportion of kids is doing A work. It’s not like this has to be on a bell curve.

[Anonymous]

I am sure colleges know the different between As in tough classes at demanding schools and As in easy classes and less demanding schools. I am also sure this is why teacher and counselor recs matter!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why schools look at the classes -- AP is much more important. And there is a big difference between a 3.5 and a 4.5 GPA. Both are considered A's.

but the point is the 3.5 was considered great just a decade ago. The 4.5 is inflated.

The inflationis a problem. It ends up being that completion grades determine the difference between good and great. I know that turning in homework is important. I get it, but it ends up being more important than anything else. And yes, even in advanced classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I don’t understand the logic behind “test optional” admisssions. In this world of everyone gets a trophy, it’s the only standardized measure by which schools can compare students. When I read college confidential and someone claims to have an unweighted 4.0 and a 1120 SAT, my eyebrows go up. So many schools have rampant grade inflation that you just can’t compare GPAs from one school to another.

And yes, I know, some kids aren’t good at timed tests...but 90% of school grades are based on timed tests also. Students who need accommodations on tests in school also get accommodations on standardized tests.

The other possibility is that this proportion of kids is doing A work. It’s not like this has to be on a bell curve.[/quote

Teachers should post the test scores (anonymously if necessary), or, at a minimum, post the mean score for the test and the standard deviation. This allows each student to evaluate their knowledge of the material relative to their classmates. For those students who are truly interested to learn, this information can be invaluable for assessing whether they are competitive with their fellow students - it also allows for an assessment of whether the tests are well constructed. The IB program allows for a direct evaluation of the students (and their teachers) in comparison to hundreds of thousands of international students who study this curriculum and take standardized tests. FCPS also participates in the PISA (OECD test) and some results from that are available: From FCPS - 10/16/17 Academic Performance Update

In November of 2016, a sampling of 15 year olds from each of our high school participated in the OECD Test for Schools. According to the documentation, “The reading domain of the OECD Test for Schools assesses the active, purposeful and functional application of reading in a range of situations and for various purposes.” Beginning in August 2016, all FCPS middle and high schools have been engaged in professional development in disciplinary literacy, with the intent of increasing the opportunities for students to read, write, think, and discuss content in authentic ways. We believe this cross curricular approach to literacy aligns to the knowledge and skills assessed in the OECD and will result in growth in future test administrations. [authentic gobbledygook]

The November 2016 results for the reading domain showed the following schools preformed below the United States OECD mean scaled score: Edison HS, Herndon HS, Mount Vernon HS, Stuart HS, Lee HS, and Annandale HS. While all schools have been involved in the Secondary Literacy work, Instructional Services Department (ISD) is providing more intensive support to a handful of schools including: Herndon MS, Herndon HS, Edison HS, and Mount Vernon HS. ISD staff will reach out to the Literacy Teams at Stuart HS, Lee HS, and Annandale HS to more intentionally support their school based efforts.

All FCPS High Schools scored above the United States OECD mean scaled score in mathematics.
______________________________________________________________________________

A College Board document on International Comparative Assessments (including PISA, TIMSS, and NAEP - but not IB of course) can be found here: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED562752.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

A's are being given away at many schools. Not meaningful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

I've also seen studies, and a recent Wall Street Journal article this month, that say the opposite. Also, what constitutes college success? DS is currently in advanced physics and calculus courses at a top 20 university but he will get a B in those courses. His cousins, will both graduate from college with nearly straight A's but they refuse to take any math or science courses because of the tough grading. One is majoring in illustration, the other in education. I guess, they are "doing better" in college, but are they really?

[Anonymous]

The kids in this area with an A average are probably doing just fine on their AP exams. It’s more likely the ones in Podunk that are getting 1’s and 2’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

I've also seen studies, and a recent Wall Street Journal article this month, that say the opposite. Also, what constitutes college success? DS is currently in advanced physics and calculus courses at a top 20 university but he will get a B in those courses. His cousins, will both graduate from college with nearly straight A's but they refuse to take any math or science courses because of the tough grading. One is majoring in illustration, the other in education. I guess, they are "doing better" in college, but are they really?

Your a lunatic. Why the F do you know your nephews grades.

Success is getting a degree in something you will enjoy and beingbable to be gainfully employed. A study shows that students in the top 1/3 of an average college do better job wise than kids in the lower 1/3 of an Ivy. .. simply because the Ivy kids can't handle not bring the best. It's pathetic.

Studies also show kids that think a B is bad score drop out of science at an alarming rate and it's not because they can't do it,it's because their ridiculous parents can't handle B's.

It's not a cullingbsystrm. We need an educated country, we should educate everybody we can and who wants an education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

A's are being given away at many schools. Not meaningful.

So what... and C's get degrees. Get a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

I've also seen studies, and a recent Wall Street Journal article this month, that say the opposite. Also, what constitutes college success? DS is currently in advanced physics and calculus courses at a top 20 university but he will get a B in those courses. His cousins, will both graduate from college with nearly straight A's but they refuse to take any math or science courses because of the tough grading. One is majoring in illustration, the other in education. I guess, they are "doing better" in college, but are they really?

The same thing is happening in high schools. The kids who take easy classes and then complain that their unweighted 4.0 GPA didn’t get them in anywhere are scaring the kids who actually try hard in AP and IB classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

I've also seen studies, and a recent Wall Street Journal article this month, that say the opposite. Also, what constitutes college success? DS is currently in advanced physics and calculus courses at a top 20 university but he will get a B in those courses. His cousins, will both graduate from college with nearly straight A's but they refuse to take any math or science courses because of the tough grading. One is majoring in illustration, the other in education. I guess, they are "doing better" in college, but are they really?

Your a lunatic. Why the F do you know your nephews grades.

Success is getting a degree in something you will enjoy and beingbable to be gainfully employed. A study shows that students in the top 1/3 of an average college do better job wise than kids in the lower 1/3 of an Ivy. .. simply because the Ivy kids can't handle not bring the best. It's pathetic.

Studies also show kids that think a B is bad score drop out of science at an alarming rate and it's not because they can't do it,it's because their ridiculous parents can't handle B's.

It's not a cullingbsystrm. We need an educated country, we should educate everybody we can and who wants an education.

It is my DS (son) not nephew. And, I know his grades because he tells me. He just called and said he got a 69 on advanced physics test but he isn't worried because he'll pass the class. We said "ok," carry on. One could argue that he doesn't need to tell me his grades, but we are paying the bills. (I also know a bit about his female cousins' grades because the parents tell us.) The point being, in college, just like in high school, grades are not the definitive definition of success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

I've also seen studies, and a recent Wall Street Journal article this month, that say the opposite. Also, what constitutes college success? DS is currently in advanced physics and calculus courses at a top 20 university but he will get a B in those courses. His cousins, will both graduate from college with nearly straight A's but they refuse to take any math or science courses because of the tough grading. One is majoring in illustration, the other in education. I guess, they are "doing better" in college, but are they really?

Your a lunatic. Why the F do you know your nephews grades.

Success is getting a degree in something you will enjoy and beingbable to be gainfully employed. A study shows that students in the top 1/3 of an average college do better job wise than kids in the lower 1/3 of an Ivy. .. simply because the Ivy kids can't handle not bring the best. It's pathetic.

Studies also show kids that think a B is bad score drop out of science at an alarming rate and it's not because they can't do it,it's because their ridiculous parents can't handle B's.

It's not a cullingbsystrm. We need an educated country, we should educate everybody we can and who wants an education.

It is my DS (son) not nephew. And, I know his grades because he tells me. He just called and said he got a 69 on advanced physics test but he isn't worried because he'll pass the class. We said "ok," carry on. One could argue that he doesn't need to tell me his grades, but we are paying the bills. (I also know a bit about his female cousins' grades because the parents tell us.) The point being, in college, just like in high school, grades are not the definitive definition of success.

DP, but you said ”His cousins, will both graduate from college with nearly straight A's but they refuse to take any math or science courses because of the tough grading. One is majoring in illustration, the other in education”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not supposed to be a culling system.

If you can get an A you should get an A.

Even if you don't like it GPA no matter how hard the school is the greatest predictor of college success.

I've also seen studies, and a recent Wall Street Journal article this month, that say the opposite. Also, what constitutes college success? DS is currently in advanced physics and calculus courses at a top 20 university but he will get a B in those courses. His cousins, will both graduate from college with nearly straight A's but they refuse to take any math or science courses because of the tough grading. One is majoring in illustration, the other in education. I guess, they are "doing better" in college, but are they really?

Your a lunatic. Why the F do you know your nephews grades.

Success is getting a degree in something you will enjoy and beingbable to be gainfully employed. A study shows that students in the top 1/3 of an average college do better job wise than kids in the lower 1/3 of an Ivy. .. simply because the Ivy kids can't handle not bring the best. It's pathetic.

Studies also show kids that think a B is bad score drop out of science at an alarming rate and it's not because they can't do it,it's because their ridiculous parents can't handle B's.

It's not a cullingbsystrm. We need an educated country, we should educate everybody we can and who wants an education.

It is my DS (son) not nephew. And, I know his grades because he tells me. He just called and said he got a 69 on advanced physics test but he isn't worried because he'll pass the class. We said "ok," carry on. One could argue that he doesn't need to tell me his grades, but we are paying the bills. (I also know a bit about his female cousins' grades because the parents tell us.) The point being, in college, just like in high school, grades are not the definitive definition of success.

Your comments imply that you think that your nieces are not successful or that your son is somehow better than them because he’s majoring in a science and they’re majoring in education/illustration. Why?