So many unweighted 4.0s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the private school parents on this thread: you don’t seem to understand that the reason why public’s so weighted GPAs is because they offer a huge variety of levels for each class, at least large public’s do. I don’t live in the DMV anymore, but for example, my child’s high school offers everything pre-algebra to pre-calculus to 9th graders. For English, there are three levels offered in every grade.

My kid's private school offers 4 choices and different level for freshman math, for example. Algebra 1, geometry, Algebra 2, pre-calculus. Each of those courses offers three levels from on-grade level (flex), on-grade level, honors. So my kid was in honors Algebra 1 in 9th grade but ended up his senior year in on-grade level (flex) for pre-calc. Math was always his weakness except for standardized testing. You can't move in or out of a class or level during the school year though. Once you're in, you're in.

Catholic Diocesan schools are no better than publics.

Most of the Catholic private high schools are not part of the diocese. And many are, in fact, "better" in many ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in a private school and currently has a 4.0. This is the following grading scale:

Same for our private. Plus no retakes on anything, if they miss a deadline for an assignment they have until the next time the class meets to turn it in with a 30% reduction. After that it's a 0 (actually a zero not 50 that some schools give for missing assignments). They also have mid terms and final exams. What is interesting is that most who post here would judge our school as subpar the MCPS. I don't see how anyone could be satisfied that their children where truly learning with the way grades are calculated in MCPS.

My DC works hard and has an unweighted 4.0. I know it's better for them to earn their high grades and As rather than have a high C rounded to an A and I hope AOs see the truth and admit accordingly.

Why did you choose private if you think it’s grading scale is so unjust?

We chose private for many different reasons. Love the smaller classes, love that teachers and administration take a personal interest in DC, it has specialty programs not offered at our zoned public, the students are a community, there is zero tolerance for being disruptive in class, honor roll is no grade lower than a B (not some As and a couple Cs average a B). I could go on.

I have absolutely no problem with the grading scale or the zeros for missed assignments. What I think is unjust is that an unweighted 4.0 should mean that someone has earned all As and rounding up 70s should never equal an A no matter how you spin the curriculum or how bright and hard working the students are 70s are average and GPAs should reflect that.

DP: You don’t care about whether kids at MCPS are learning or if it is unfair for the kids truly earning A’s. You are worried that MCPS’s grading policy will affect your child’s admissions at competitive universities. If your child attends a private school in the DMV area or any major metro area— the AOs at state flagships and competitive private colleges and universities are aware of the grading scale at your child’s school and they are certainly aware of MCPS’s grading policy AND how many kids are earning A’s. There is literally a link to the grading policy on the doc sent to schools by MCPS HS counselors.

Mind your business / stay in your lane. Complaining on DCUM will not change the MCPS grading policies. This thread is pointless.

Not the PP, but another private school parent. I sincerely doubt she feels her kids are threatened in any way. From my standpoint, I think parents and students of MCPS should be warned and have their expectations managed with regard to college admissions. It is only going to get worse with all the learning loss from the pandemic.

Okay, thanks for the public service announcement. 😒

Do you really think that MCPS parents like myself are not aware of learning loss or that college admissions are competitive for any high stats kids. Look at the UVA/ UMD acceptance threads. And the private school kids are doing so great compared to pre-pandemic /TO in college admissions? Based on the Sidwell threads I would question your assumptions. I have friends in NYC that have kids at elite privates and admissions is tough for them too.

Forgot to add that the thread OP definitely feels threatened. Re-read the last lines of OP's post.

That is not my impression of her post. Maybe you should reread it. She seems to be simply pointing it out and making an observation and saying it hurts the smart kids who actually worked hard for the As. She didn't mention anything about her kid and, in fact, I get the impression she is not a private school parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in a private school and currently has a 4.0. This is the following grading scale:

Same for our private. Plus no retakes on anything, if they miss a deadline for an assignment they have until the next time the class meets to turn it in with a 30% reduction. After that it's a 0 (actually a zero not 50 that some schools give for missing assignments). They also have mid terms and final exams. What is interesting is that most who post here would judge our school as subpar the MCPS. I don't see how anyone could be satisfied that their children where truly learning with the way grades are calculated in MCPS.

My DC works hard and has an unweighted 4.0. I know it's better for them to earn their high grades and As rather than have a high C rounded to an A and I hope AOs see the truth and admit accordingly.

Why did you choose private if you think it’s grading scale is so unjust?

We chose private for many different reasons. Love the smaller classes, love that teachers and administration take a personal interest in DC, it has specialty programs not offered at our zoned public, the students are a community, there is zero tolerance for being disruptive in class, honor roll is no grade lower than a B (not some As and a couple Cs average a B). I could go on.

I have absolutely no problem with the grading scale or the zeros for missed assignments. What I think is unjust is that an unweighted 4.0 should mean that someone has earned all As and rounding up 70s should never equal an A no matter how you spin the curriculum or how bright and hard working the students are 70s are average and GPAs should reflect that.

DP: You don’t care about whether kids at MCPS are learning or if it is unfair for the kids truly earning A’s. You are worried that MCPS’s grading policy will affect your child’s admissions at competitive universities. If your child attends a private school in the DMV area or any major metro area— the AOs at state flagships and competitive private colleges and universities are aware of the grading scale at your child’s school and they are certainly aware of MCPS’s grading policy AND how many kids are earning A’s. There is literally a link to the grading policy on the doc sent to schools by MCPS HS counselors.

Mind your business / stay in your lane. Complaining on DCUM will not change the MCPS grading policies. This thread is pointless.

Not the PP, but another private school parent. I sincerely doubt she feels her kids are threatened in any way. From my standpoint, I think parents and students of MCPS should be warned and have their expectations managed with regard to college admissions. It is only going to get worse with all the learning loss from the pandemic.

Okay, thanks for the public service announcement. 😒

Do you really think that MCPS parents like myself are not aware of learning loss or that college admissions are competitive for any high stats kids. Look at the UVA/ UMD acceptance threads. And the private school kids are doing so great compared to pre-pandemic /TO in college admissions? Based on the Sidwell threads I would question your assumptions. I have friends in NYC that have kids at elite privates and admissions is tough for them too.

Forgot to add that the thread OP definitely feels threatened. Re-read the last lines of OP's post.

That is not my impression of her post. Maybe you should reread it. She seems to be simply pointing it out and making an observation and saying it hurts the smart kids who actually worked hard for the As. She didn't mention anything about her kid and, in fact, I get the impression she is not a private school parent.

She could be a private or public school parent--that is not my point. The assumption is that her kid is one of the smart ones that worked hard to earn an A. Even if she is an MCPS parent, which I doubt based on how she wrote her post, she is worried about college admissions for her kid. Why else would you post the rant about A grades, using MCPS as an example?

[Anonymous]

DP: You don’t care about whether kids at MCPS are learning or if it is unfair for the kids truly earning A’s. You are worried that MCPS’s grading policy will affect your child’s admissions at competitive universities. If your child attends a private school in the DMV area or any major metro area— the AOs at state flagships and competitive private colleges and universities are aware of the grading scale at your child’s school and they are certainly aware of MCPS’s grading policy AND how many kids are earning A’s. There is literally a link to the grading policy on the doc sent to schools by MCPS HS counselors.

Mind your business / stay in your lane. Complaining on DCUM will not change the MCPS grading policies. This thread is p

NP. I actually DO care, quite a bit, about the MCPS (absolutely ridiculous) grading rubric and exam policies. We are zoned for a W school and our older kids attended, but we found the changes in MCPS in the last 5-10 years extremely concerning and consequently sent our younger kids to independent schools. We would have MUCH preferred to save our money for college/retirement, but valued more a rigorous curriculum in a school with strong administration and smaller classes, and MCPS is moving in the opposite direction of that. The fact that our kids attended school during Covid was an unexpected bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

DP: You don’t care about whether kids at MCPS are learning or if it is unfair for the kids truly earning A’s. You are worried that MCPS’s grading policy will affect your child’s admissions at competitive universities. If your child attends a private school in the DMV area or any major metro area— the AOs at state flagships and competitive private colleges and universities are aware of the grading scale at your child’s school and they are certainly aware of MCPS’s grading policy AND how many kids are earning A’s. There is literally a link to the grading policy on the doc sent to schools by MCPS HS counselors.

Mind your business / stay in your lane. Complaining on DCUM will not change the MCPS grading policies. This thread is p

NP. I actually DO care, quite a bit, about the MCPS (absolutely ridiculous) grading rubric and exam policies. We are zoned for a W school and our older kids attended, but we found the changes in MCPS in the last 5-10 years extremely concerning and consequently sent our younger kids to independent schools. We would have MUCH preferred to save our money for college/retirement, but valued more a rigorous curriculum in a school with strong administration and smaller classes, and MCPS is moving in the opposite direction of that. The fact that our kids attended school during Covid was an unexpected bonus.

But you pulled your kids and they now attend private schools. Why do you care what MCPS is doing now? Do you hope the grading policy changes so you can re-enroll your younger kids to save money? Are you worried about property values?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in a private school and currently has a 4.0. This is the following grading scale:

Same for our private. Plus no retakes on anything, if they miss a deadline for an assignment they have until the next time the class meets to turn it in with a 30% reduction. After that it's a 0 (actually a zero not 50 that some schools give for missing assignments). They also have mid terms and final exams. What is interesting is that most who post here would judge our school as subpar the MCPS. I don't see how anyone could be satisfied that their children where truly learning with the way grades are calculated in MCPS.

My DC works hard and has an unweighted 4.0. I know it's better for them to earn their high grades and As rather than have a high C rounded to an A and I hope AOs see the truth and admit accordingly.

Why did you choose private if you think it’s grading scale is so unjust?

We chose private for many different reasons. Love the smaller classes, love that teachers and administration take a personal interest in DC, it has specialty programs not offered at our zoned public, the students are a community, there is zero tolerance for being disruptive in class, honor roll is no grade lower than a B (not some As and a couple Cs average a B). I could go on.

I have absolutely no problem with the grading scale or the zeros for missed assignments. What I think is unjust is that an unweighted 4.0 should mean that someone has earned all As and rounding up 70s should never equal an A no matter how you spin the curriculum or how bright and hard working the students are 70s are average and GPAs should reflect that.

DP: You don’t care about whether kids at MCPS are learning or if it is unfair for the kids truly earning A’s. You are worried that MCPS’s grading policy will affect your child’s admissions at competitive universities. If your child attends a private school in the DMV area or any major metro area— the AOs at state flagships and competitive private colleges and universities are aware of the grading scale at your child’s school and they are certainly aware of MCPS’s grading policy AND how many kids are earning A’s. There is literally a link to the grading policy on the doc sent to schools by MCPS HS counselors.

Mind your business / stay in your lane. Complaining on DCUM will not change the MCPS grading policies. This thread is pointless.

Not the PP, but another private school parent. I sincerely doubt she feels her kids are threatened in any way. From my standpoint, I think parents and students of MCPS should be warned and have their expectations managed with regard to college admissions. It is only going to get worse with all the learning loss from the pandemic.

Okay, thanks for the public service announcement. 😒

Do you really think that MCPS parents like myself are not aware of learning loss or that college admissions are competitive for any high stats kids. Look at the UVA/ UMD acceptance threads. And the private school kids are doing so great compared to pre-pandemic /TO in college admissions? Based on the Sidwell threads I would question your assumptions. I have friends in NYC that have kids at elite privates and admissions is tough for them too.

Forgot to add that the thread OP definitely feels threatened. Re-read the last lines of OP's post.

That is not my impression of her post. Maybe you should reread it. She seems to be simply pointing it out and making an observation and saying it hurts the smart kids who actually worked hard for the As. She didn't mention anything about her kid and, in fact, I get the impression she is not a private school parent.

She could be a private or public school parent--that is not my point. The assumption is that her kid is one of the smart ones that worked hard to earn an A. Even if she is an MCPS parent, which I doubt based on how she wrote her post, she is worried about college admissions for her kid. Why else would you post the rant about A grades, using MCPS as an example?

People like to rant in general. I rant about stuff even though it doesn't impact me. I was upset and ranged about MCPS closing schools because it was the wrong decision for kids, families, and society in general. That didn't impact me because my kids' schools were open. So I don't buy that she is threatened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

DP: You don’t care about whether kids at MCPS are learning or if it is unfair for the kids truly earning A’s. You are worried that MCPS’s grading policy will affect your child’s admissions at competitive universities. If your child attends a private school in the DMV area or any major metro area— the AOs at state flagships and competitive private colleges and universities are aware of the grading scale at your child’s school and they are certainly aware of MCPS’s grading policy AND how many kids are earning A’s. There is literally a link to the grading policy on the doc sent to schools by MCPS HS counselors.

Mind your business / stay in your lane. Complaining on DCUM will not change the MCPS grading policies. This thread is p

NP. I actually DO care, quite a bit, about the MCPS (absolutely ridiculous) grading rubric and exam policies. We are zoned for a W school and our older kids attended, but we found the changes in MCPS in the last 5-10 years extremely concerning and consequently sent our younger kids to independent schools. We would have MUCH preferred to save our money for college/retirement, but valued more a rigorous curriculum in a school with strong administration and smaller classes, and MCPS is moving in the opposite direction of that. The fact that our kids attended school during Covid was an unexpected bonus.

But you pulled your kids and they now attend private schools. Why do you care what MCPS is doing now? Do you hope the grading policy changes so you can re-enroll your younger kids to save money? Are you worried about property values?

NP. My kids have been in private school all along, and we are zoned for a W school. Luckily, the W school districts are more stable than the rest of the county, so I am not worried about home home value. But I do worry about society in general, and this seems to be a much more widespread problem beyond MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree MCPS is a whacko but it’s not quite as bad as you are saying. You get an official grade per semester not year, so the lowest you could get for an A is 79.5 one quarter then 89.5 the second quarter - a B and an A averaging to an A.

How does that average to an A? At the very least an A should be 90%. Those two numbers do not average 90%. It’s mid-B (84.5%) Only in crazy DMV land is 84.5% an A!

this is wack. how do a 79.5 and and 89.5 average to a 89.5? it averages to an 84.5 which is a mid B. how does that turn into an A?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in a private school and currently has a 4.0. This is the following grading scale:

Same for our private. Plus no retakes on anything, if they miss a deadline for an assignment they have until the next time the class meets to turn it in with a 30% reduction. After that it's a 0 (actually a zero not 50 that some schools give for missing assignments). They also have mid terms and final exams. What is interesting is that most who post here would judge our school as subpar the MCPS. I don't see how anyone could be satisfied that their children where truly learning with the way grades are calculated in MCPS.

My DC works hard and has an unweighted 4.0. I know it's better for them to earn their high grades and As rather than have a high C rounded to an A and I hope AOs see the truth and admit accordingly.

Why did you choose private if you think it’s grading scale is so unjust?

We chose private for many different reasons. Love the smaller classes, love that teachers and administration take a personal interest in DC, it has specialty programs not offered at our zoned public, the students are a community, there is zero tolerance for being disruptive in class, honor roll is no grade lower than a B (not some As and a couple Cs average a B). I could go on.

I have absolutely no problem with the grading scale or the zeros for missed assignments. What I think is unjust is that an unweighted 4.0 should mean that someone has earned all As and rounding up 70s should never equal an A no matter how you spin the curriculum or how bright and hard working the students are 70s are average and GPAs should reflect that.

DP: You don’t care about whether kids at MCPS are learning or if it is unfair for the kids truly earning A’s. You are worried that MCPS’s grading policy will affect your child’s admissions at competitive universities. If your child attends a private school in the DMV area or any major metro area— the AOs at state flagships and competitive private colleges and universities are aware of the grading scale at your child’s school and they are certainly aware of MCPS’s grading policy AND how many kids are earning A’s. There is literally a link to the grading policy on the doc sent to schools by MCPS HS counselors.

Mind your business / stay in your lane. Complaining on DCUM will not change the MCPS grading policies. This thread is pointless.

Not the PP, but another private school parent. I sincerely doubt she feels her kids are threatened in any way. From my standpoint, I think parents and students of MCPS should be warned and have their expectations managed with regard to college admissions. It is only going to get worse with all the learning loss from the pandemic.

Okay, thanks for the public service announcement. 😒

Do you really think that MCPS parents like myself are not aware of learning loss or that college admissions are competitive for any high stats kids. Look at the UVA/ UMD acceptance threads. And the private school kids are doing so great compared to pre-pandemic /TO in college admissions? Based on the Sidwell threads I would question your assumptions. I have friends in NYC that have kids at elite privates and admissions is tough for them too.

Forgot to add that the thread OP definitely feels threatened. Re-read the last lines of OP's post.

That is not my impression of her post. Maybe you should reread it. She seems to be simply pointing it out and making an observation and saying it hurts the smart kids who actually worked hard for the As. She didn't mention anything about her kid and, in fact, I get the impression she is not a private school parent.

She could be a private or public school parent--that is not my point. The assumption is that her kid is one of the smart ones that worked hard to earn an A. Even if she is an MCPS parent, which I doubt based on how she wrote her post, she is worried about college admissions for her kid. Why else would you post the rant about A grades, using MCPS as an example?

People like to rant in general. I rant about stuff even though it doesn't impact me. I was upset and ranged about MCPS closing schools because it was the wrong decision for kids, families, and society in general. That didn't impact me because my kids' schools were open. So I don't buy that she is threatened.

Fair enough. You gave an example that has community/societal effects. I didn't read the OP's post as caring about society as a whole because of the last few sentences and also no mention of the larger impact of grading policies on society or how widespread the issue is. I would have framed my post differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree MCPS is a whacko but it’s not quite as bad as you are saying. You get an official grade per semester not year, so the lowest you could get for an A is 79.5 one quarter then 89.5 the second quarter - a B and an A averaging to an A.

How does that average to an A? At the very least an A should be 90%. Those two numbers do not average 90%. It’s mid-B (84.5%) Only in crazy DMV land is 84.5% an A!

this is wack. how do a 79.5 and and 89.5 average to a 89.5? it averages to an 84.5 which is a mid B. how does that turn into an A?

Because they are a B and an A for their respective quarters. In MCPS, a B in one quarter and an A in the other quarter results in an A for the semester. Yes, it would average to 84.5, but that is not how the grading rubric is done (i.e., irrelevant).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my kid graduated from RM there were 17 unweighted 4.0s. Probably too high but this thread makes it seem like half the class has straight As.

At Blair SMAC a few years ago there were only around 15 students with a 4.0 and a SAT above 1550 (average SAT for 100 magnet students was 1530). Not that easy to get straight As every single semester.

No one on this thread has offered any proof that about the numbers of MCPS students who have a 4.0 with a challenging curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my kid graduated from RM there were 17 unweighted 4.0s. Probably too high but this thread makes it seem like half the class has straight As.

At Blair SMAC a few years ago there were only around 15 students with a 4.0 and a SAT above 1550 (average SAT for 100 magnet students was 1530). Not that easy to get straight As every single semester.

Doesn’t matter, DC with 4.0 from magnet and 1550+ still got deferred everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree MCPS is a whacko but it’s not quite as bad as you are saying. You get an official grade per semester not year, so the lowest you could get for an A is 79.5 one quarter then 89.5 the second quarter - a B and an A averaging to an A.

How does that average to an A? At the very least an A should be 90%. Those two numbers do not average 90%. It’s mid-B (84.5%) Only in crazy DMV land is 84.5% an A!

this is wack. how do a 79.5 and and 89.5 average to a 89.5? it averages to an 84.5 which is a mid B. how does that turn into an A?

Because they are a B and an A for their respective quarters. In MCPS, a B in one quarter and an A in the other quarter results in an A for the semester. Yes, it would average to 84.5, but that is not how the grading rubric is done (i.e., irrelevant).

This is what is so wacky with MCPS grading. At our private quarters numbers are averaged.. So an 90 quarter 1 plus an 80 quarter 2 is an 85.
DCPS averages letter grades like MCPS but at least they have "minus" and "plus" grades so it's not like MCPS when anything about a 89.5 is an A.


79.5 quarter 1 and 89.5 quarter 2:

MCPS: 4.0
NCS: 3.0
DCPS: 3.3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree MCPS is a whacko but it’s not quite as bad as you are saying. You get an official grade per semester not year, so the lowest you could get for an A is 79.5 one quarter then 89.5 the second quarter - a B and an A averaging to an A.

How does that average to an A? At the very least an A should be 90%. Those two numbers do not average 90%. It’s mid-B (84.5%) Only in crazy DMV land is 84.5% an A!

this is wack. how do a 79.5 and and 89.5 average to a 89.5? it averages to an 84.5 which is a mid B. how does that turn into an A?

Because they are a B and an A for their respective quarters. In MCPS, a B in one quarter and an A in the other quarter results in an A for the semester. Yes, it would average to 84.5, but that is not how the grading rubric is done (i.e., irrelevant).

With no + or - grades it makes sense to reward students who raise their grade from a B to an A and also to reward students who got an A and then a B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my kid graduated from RM there were 17 unweighted 4.0s. Probably too high but this thread makes it seem like half the class has straight As.

At Blair SMAC a few years ago there were only around 15 students with a 4.0 and a SAT above 1550 (average SAT for 100 magnet students was 1530). Not that easy to get straight As every single semester.

Doesn’t matter, DC with 4.0 from magnet and 1550+ still got deferred everywhere.

Kind of depressing. Did they ED anywhere?