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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I am glad my ds chose to do the IB program. His papers and exams are not only graded by his teachers, but also by the IB examiners. If his teachers aren’t teaching, everyone will know. It holds everyone to a higher standard. He doesn’t have a 4.0, but colleges will know that he is prepared.

Um, no

Wasn’t asking for opinions. He’ll be applying to some top LACs next year with a 34 ACT and a 3.8 UW GPA. We’ll talk then.

It's sort of sickening that a 99th percentile ACT score combined with an unweighted A average is no longer deemed good enough.

What on earth???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I am glad my ds chose to do the IB program. His papers and exams are not only graded by his teachers, but also by the IB examiners. If his teachers aren’t teaching, everyone will know. It holds everyone to a higher standard. He doesn’t have a 4.0, but colleges will know that he is prepared.

Um, no

Wasn’t asking for opinions. He’ll be applying to some top LACs next year with a 34 ACT and a 3.8 UW GPA. We’ll talk then.

It's sort of sickening that a 99th percentile ACT score combined with an unweighted A average is no longer deemed good enough.

What on earth???

just to clarify - it will make you competitive, but you'll need more to distinguish yourself from the pack in order to be accepted at the top LACs.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, the book this article derived from is being widely scorned in the college admissions world as nothing but a College Board-supported effort to counter the growing “test-free” admissions movement. Part of its very specious argument is that because of grade inflation, colleges can no longer ascertain which students are truly qualified and need standardized tests more than ever. The reality, of course, is that colleges are realizing what a limited tool they are, which is why they’re going test-free, or at least dropping SAT II and SAT essay requirements

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the book this article derived from is being widely scorned in the college admissions world as nothing but a College Board-supported effort to counter the growing “test-free” admissions movement. Part of its very specious argument is that because of grade inflation, colleges can no longer ascertain which students are truly qualified and need standardized tests more than ever. The reality, of course, is that colleges are realizing what a limited tool they are, which is why they’re going test-free, or at least dropping SAT II and SAT essay requirements

I see a hell of a lot of parents bragging their snowflake has "all A's". and before we sent our daughter to private, the grading policies at her public were insane. as many test retakes as you want, turn in homework & assignments any time until the last week of semester, project re-dos. it took her a year to adjust that you had to, you know, actually study for upcoming tests and turn things on time.

[Anonymous]

Also a player is the stratification of secondary education courses.

You have regular track.
Honors track.
AP and dual enrolled track.

The kids in the regular track aren't taught anything. Show up and get a B, turn in homework and bomb exams and get an A-.

AP is nearly as bad, gobs of busy work for an A. Then the brats often bomb the exam in May or just don't bother taking it.

[Anonymous]

Oh, hey, look GW finds that students who submitted test scores and those who didn't perform the same academically in college:
https://www.gwhatchet.com/2018/04/02/test-optional-applicants-on-par-academically-with-other-students-officials-say/

It's almost as if a high school student's four years of academic performance might give better insight into how they'll fare in college than does a single 3-hour stint of penciling in circles.

[Anonymous]

I'm reading a lot about grade inflation and easy A's at in AP classes. I have no idea what school district or specific schools you are talking about, but that's not happening at my kids school. There are no easy "A"s in AP classes

[Anonymous]

That is not happening in my DC's school either. Getting a Calculus "A" in is much more difficult than getting a 5 in test.

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading a lot about grade inflation and easy A's at in AP classes. I have no idea what school district or specific schools you are talking about, but that's not happening at my kids school. There are no easy "A"s in AP classes

[Anonymous]

In our FCPS IB school, kids in IB classes are working really hard for Bs. The regular level classes hand out As like candy.

[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.

Kids with an unweighted 4.0 might or might not be taking the most challenging classes possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I am glad my ds chose to do the IB program. His papers and exams are not only graded by his teachers, but also by the IB examiners. If his teachers aren’t teaching, everyone will know. It holds everyone to a higher standard. He doesn’t have a 4.0, but colleges will know that he is prepared.

This is a very good point. He definitely will be prepared, and this is why we send our kids to school. It does no service to our children if they get 4.0s and can't write a paper to save their lives. The College of William and Mary will tell you that they reject lots of kids with 4.0 GPAs and valedictorians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading a lot about grade inflation and easy A's at in AP classes. I have no idea what school district or specific schools you are talking about, but that's not happening at my kids school. There are no easy "A"s in AP classes

I have noticed that a lot (one or a few?) private school parents come on here to bash the public school system for grade inflation (ironic the article states that this is more prevalent in private schools). I never saw grade inflation at my children's MCPS. My kids were prepared very well for college by their high school, and I feel very thankful and blessed that I was able to send my children to the public school they attended. At the same time, I believe that being well prepared for college may also depend upon a person's personality (maybe personality is the wrong word here?)-- do they like school? do they work hard? do they care about school? etc. There are some kids who simply hate school and will not be prepared for college no matter what we do for them.

[Anonymous]

BTW, I am in the same poster responding in 12:44, 12:34 and 12:31.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading a lot about grade inflation and easy A's at in AP classes. I have no idea what school district or specific schools you are talking about, but that's not happening at my kids school. There are no easy "A"s in AP classes

I have noticed that a lot (one or a few?) private school parents come on here to bash the public school system for grade inflation (ironic the article states that this is more prevalent in private schools). I never saw grade inflation at my children's MCPS. My kids were prepared very well for college by their high school, and I feel very thankful and blessed that I was able to send my children to the public school they attended. At the same time, I believe that being well prepared for college may also depend upon a person's personality (maybe personality is the wrong word here?)-- do they like school? do they work hard? do they care about school? etc. There are some kids who simply hate school and will not be prepared for college no matter what we do for them.

What the F are you smoking lady? MCPS is known everywhere in the DMV and by all Maryland college admissions to be the most inflated.

1. No final exams anymore since kids were doing so bad
2. Retakes on tests are allowed. The test scores aren't even combined. The 2nd score is the final score. Get a 64 on first test and a 90 on the second. You get a 90.
3. Projects, papers, and homework can be turned in late without penality
4. They have a weighted country-wide grade policy. No number grades are submitted to colleges for 100 point scale. All letter grades. A+B will always equal A for a semester. So a 79.5 + 89.5 always equals an A? In MCPS - absolutely!!
5. They give an entire GPA point for AP classes. So that 79.5 and 89.5 now all of a sudden equal a 5.0 on the GPA scale.
6. They give an entire GPA point higher for honors classes. Same as above
7. Most kids minus remedial are taking at least 2 honors courses Freshman year. Honors courses in MCPS are basic courses. There is nothing honors about them.
8. You are allowed to take college AP courses as a freshman and are unlimited the entire 4 years.


You have honestly have to be the biggest idiot to not get honor roll every semester at a MCPS school. This helps lazy kids and punishes the hard working kids. Nothing to distinguish between a child that gets a 97 and a 95 for their semester when a kid that gets a 79.5 and a 89.5 gets the SAME EXACT grade sent to college admissions. It is impossible for them to weed out the kids who are high achievers. Yes, certain tracks are tougher but barely scraping by getting A's and clearly mastering the class is two very different things. Having kids that are high achieving it is a terrible policy. But MCPS rather hide behind a grading table than a 100 point scale. They teach kids to find ways to master the system then to show colleges they have actually mastered the class.

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm the odd one out. I'm also a college professor.

I wish students could keep taking tests, writing papers, etc. until they learn the material. If someone takes two months to learn it, great! Move them on. If someone takes two years to learn it, great!

Of course, in reality, it costs more for it to take two years, so we won't do that. But in between is a model where the only thing that matters is that you get the material. If everyone can reach an "A" level in a subject eventually, I'd like to see a system where they can do so if they want to, or can stop at the "C" level if they're not interested in mastering the subject.

This might actually mean that kids would do a better job of self-selecting for fields that match their interests + aptitude without worries about the various structural issues of formal schooling that trip a lot of people up (being called on in class, timed tests, one-chance projects).

And yes, I get that projects in the real world have deadlines. The point is not "no deadlines." The point is retaking tests, rewriting papers, reattempting projects, etc.. I would assume that employers would then look at how long it took someone to complete the course of study in their field before hiring that person as, say, a journalist working under time pressure.