Changes to grading for all MCPS high school students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is terrible! Why would they do this? Kids who loved school will now learn to hate it. They make it so unfun.

Kids who were skipping school were one of the main reasons for changing the policy, because once they had their first or third quarter grade set, they could blow off the second or fourth quarter classes and still pass.

They should instead have a policy where if you have more than 6 unexcused absences or what ever number you fail the class. Or make attendance part of the grade.

We had that. I do miss the LC policy, but the truth is that it was never applied with fidelity. Every middle class parent I knew (myself included) gamed the system by writing notes to cover our kids’ absences and tardies. Low income parents didn’t know this. In some cases, I told parents what to write in a note so I didn’t have to LC their kid for things other kids were getting away with.

Why do you assume low income families wouldn't know or do this as well? They can make it so you have a doctors note after a certain number to deal with irresponsible parents like you. Why is it you blame others for your bad behavior.

I know because retroactively low income parents would tell us teachers that they wish they had known they could have just written a note. And I’m not talking about instances where students were absent more than four consecutive days. I’m talking about the old LC policy which was 5+ unexcused absences or 10 unexcused tardies at any time during the semester. The doctor’s note existed before the LC policy and has nothing to do with anything I or anyone else (teacher or parent) did to try to mitigate low income kids being LCed unfairly while MC kids skated free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New policy approved: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/18/mcps-new-grading-policies/

Cna someone replace Jawando with a sound board where every button just yells "That's racist!" It would be cheaper and easier than carting him around everywhere, and nothing would be lost.

+1000

MCPS is quickly falling apart; the education they offer is increasingly worthless.

[Anonymous]

It's about time they corrected this mistake. Yes, the kids with straight As game the system (can get a 54 on the final and still keep my A, so, don't need to study), as do those on the other end (turn in a balnk page with my name and get 50%, not 0).

It's the due date and deadline that used to make me crazy - that is so not a real world thing.

The new policy is how the vast majority of students in the world are graded, and I'm glad they finally fixed it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New policy approved: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/18/mcps-new-grading-policies/

Cna someone replace Jawando with a sound board where every button just yells "That's racist!" It would be cheaper and easier than carting him around everywhere, and nothing would be lost.

They should more clearly report the rounding does not account for the percentage. So 79.5 is still an 80. Also they should note that only ES/MS are year long courses. All HS courses are semester.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is terrible! Why would they do this? Kids who loved school will now learn to hate it. They make it so unfun.

Kids who were skipping school were one of the main reasons for changing the policy, because once they had their first or third quarter grade set, they could blow off the second or fourth quarter classes and still pass.

They should instead have a policy where if you have more than 6 unexcused absences or what ever number you fail the class. Or make attendance part of the grade.

Mcps did away with the LC policy over 15 years ago.

Apparently it is racist to make attendance part of the grade. Some kids have more important things to do than come to school - like missing school to translate for their non English speaking parents for an important appointment

[Anonymous]

Why do honors classes get the same gpa bump as AP classes. That is total grade inflation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do honors classes get the same gpa bump as AP classes. That is total grade inflation

Can you explain your reasoning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is terrible! Why would they do this? Kids who loved school will now learn to hate it. They make it so unfun.

Kids who were skipping school were one of the main reasons for changing the policy, because once they had their first or third quarter grade set, they could blow off the second or fourth quarter classes and still pass.

They should instead have a policy where if you have more than 6 unexcused absences or what ever number you fail the class. Or make attendance part of the grade.

Mcps did away with the LC policy over 15 years ago.

Apparently it is racist to make attendance part of the grade. Some kids have more important things to do than come to school - like missing school to translate for their non English speaking parents for an important appointment

Some kids were missing school to go to the Caribbean and coming back tanned with cornrows, but a parent note that they were out sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do honors classes get the same gpa bump as AP classes. That is total grade inflation

Can you explain your reasoning?

Because there is no on-level option in many cases (Ex. Honors Eng 11 and AP in many high schools). Every available level should not be weighted the same way in the WGPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do honors classes get the same gpa bump as AP classes. That is total grade inflation

Can you explain your reasoning?

Because there is no on-level option in many cases (Ex. Honors Eng 11 and AP in many high schools). Every available level should not be weighted the same way in the WGPA.

Would you feel differently if you thought the kids on Honors were doing Honors level work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do honors classes get the same gpa bump as AP classes. That is total grade inflation

Maybe honors could be a 0.5 bump and AP a 1.0- but only if students earn a 3 or higher?

[Anonymous]

Do you want to know a secret? No one cares what weighting points MCPs awards! MCPS doesn’t rank, and colleges apply their own custom weighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you want to know a secret? No one cares what weighting points MCPs awards! MCPS doesn’t rank, and colleges apply their own custom weighting.

I disagree. It definitely matters to the competitive students as they are trying to compare themselves with others at their own school. The guidance counselors report percentages in each GPA band so if there is more disparity it is easier to distinguish the top students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want to know a secret? No one cares what weighting points MCPs awards! MCPS doesn’t rank, and colleges apply their own custom weighting.

I disagree. It definitely matters to the competitive students as they are trying to compare themselves with others at their own school. The guidance counselors report percentages in each GPA band so if there is more disparity it is easier to distinguish the top students.

Why would students need to do this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you want to know a secret? No one cares what weighting points MCPs awards! MCPS doesn’t rank, and colleges apply their own custom weighting.

I disagree. It definitely matters to the competitive students as they are trying to compare themselves with others at their own school. The guidance counselors report percentages in each GPA band so if there is more disparity it is easier to distinguish the top students.

I was told that colleges look at unweighted GPA and then the counselor’s notes on the rigor of your course selection.