Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 10:46     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m a current MCPS student and heard that students are going to board meetings to talk about the new grading. Why is it such a problem? I’m a rising junior, by the way, and it would just seem that you should keep with your current output of work and your grades will be fine. It seems to only be a problem if you’re slacking off, so I would understand a few stragglers, but even in my own inner circle, people are really mad. Is there something I don’t know? Thanks in advance.

HS Teacher here. A fear that many students have is that this change will impact college admissions because their GPAs will be lower. The problem is that students think they are competing against every other kid who applies to a particular college, but in reality they are competing against the other kids in their high school who will be affected the same way.

What students don’t see is that the current grading policy has actually been hurting college admissions because they have internal data that shows supposedly straight A kids from MCPS weren’t actually ready for their university courses. Students also don’t understand that padding their transcript with As and Bs in AP courses they barely understand doesn’t really help them when they get to college and are completely unprepared for next level courses or how to study and retain information for an entire semester.


This. My kids were under the old system, and the disdain and derision that MCPS got from AO in all the information sessions was humiliating. I just made sure that my kids were NMS scholars, took as many APs that they could and scored in 5s, and took the most rigorous course that they could, aced their SAT etc. Never went TO. We made sure that there was no doubt about the merit of the grades on the transcripts and that validation had to come from national institutions/orgs outside of MCPS.

MCPS allowed students to have AP grades in the classroom on their transcripts but these students did not take the AP exam administered by collegeboard. They get easy As and it was all just BS. Then these kids are dropping out of STEM courses in college because they cannot hack it in college. It is shameful.
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 10:44     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m a current MCPS student and heard that students are going to board meetings to talk about the new grading. Why is it such a problem? I’m a rising junior, by the way, and it would just seem that you should keep with your current output of work and your grades will be fine. It seems to only be a problem if you’re slacking off, so I would understand a few stragglers, but even in my own inner circle, people are really mad. Is there something I don’t know? Thanks in advance.

HS Teacher here. A fear that many students have is that this change will impact college admissions because their GPAs will be lower. The problem is that students think they are competing against every other kid who applies to a particular college, but in reality they are competing against the other kids in their high school who will be affected the same way.

What students don’t see is that the current grading policy has actually been hurting college admissions because they have internal data that shows supposedly straight A kids from MCPS weren’t actually ready for their university courses. Students also don’t understand that padding their transcript with As and Bs in AP courses they barely understand doesn’t really help them when they get to college and are completely unprepared for next level courses or how to study and retain information for an entire semester.


I have a similar but ever so slightly different take: The old grading policy benefited students who were A-/B+ kids (MCPS doesn't use + or -). They could get straight As even with Bs in some quarters. This meant that to colleges, there was a larger cohort of kids coming from MCPS that were indistinguishable from one another. This hurt the really stellar students, who struggled to differentiate themselves from the tier 2.

So now I feel it's more equitable. The top students will still be at the top, and will be recognized as such. The second tier will be where they actually belong, in the second tier. And so on. It's fair. I don't think anyone can argue with that!

Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 10:38     Subject: Re:Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:Imagine having played 3 quarters of a football game and then being informed that a new system of scoring will be implemented in the final quarter. People don’t like change.


It should be implemented from the new school year, after informing everyone how it works. How is this an issue?
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 10:37     Subject: Re:Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:Under the policy MCPS has been using, for any given semester, if you got an A one quarter and a B the other quarter, MCPS gave you an A for your semester grade. That meant that if you got an A (at least 89.5%) in the first quarter of any semester, you knew you had an A for your semester grade even if you got an 79.5% for the second quarter. That allowed A/B students some grace in the second half of semesters. It’s the 4th quarter. Need more time to study for AP exams? Have a huge year-end project due? No problem, you can put in minimal effort on a few small assignments or turn them in late and let your grade slip to B without your GPA taking any hit, as long as you had an A for the 3rd quarter.

Under the new policy, your percentage for each quarter in a semester will be averaged to determine your semester grade. Let’s say you get a 92% in the third quarter and an 86% for the 4th quarter. Your semester grade would be 89% — a B. Under the old grading system it would have been an A. You’ll end up with a lower GPA under the new policy.

The old policy is more popular with students because it gave them a little wiggle room for the second and fourth quarters, which often have more projects and more content covered on tests.


This is wonderful. My unofficial policy with both of my kids (alumni) was that each quarter grade should be above 95%. Of course, they slipped and usually some quarters were 91-92 - but the rule was they would aim for an A every time with no rounding up. And the fact that they could get 10% of the grade by just turning in homework was shocking to me.

Mainly, I was scared that MCPS would remove the inflated grading policy and it would impact the GPA because my kids were trained to aim low. I also made sure that my kids were taking as many AP courses that they could (12 each) and got a 5 in all the AP exams. They had to cover at least 1 AP exam from all the 5 AP core areas before they started applying. There was no other way to differentiate in MCPS because everyone got easy As.
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 10:30     Subject: Re:Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Imagine having played 3 quarters of a football game and then being informed that a new system of scoring will be implemented in the final quarter. People don’t like change.
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 08:37     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:I’m a current MCPS student and heard that students are going to board meetings to talk about the new grading. Why is it such a problem? I’m a rising junior, by the way, and it would just seem that you should keep with your current output of work and your grades will be fine. It seems to only be a problem if you’re slacking off, so I would understand a few stragglers, but even in my own inner circle, people are really mad. Is there something I don’t know? Thanks in advance.

HS Teacher here. A fear that many students have is that this change will impact college admissions because their GPAs will be lower. The problem is that students think they are competing against every other kid who applies to a particular college, but in reality they are competing against the other kids in their high school who will be affected the same way.

What students don’t see is that the current grading policy has actually been hurting college admissions because they have internal data that shows supposedly straight A kids from MCPS weren’t actually ready for their university courses. Students also don’t understand that padding their transcript with As and Bs in AP courses they barely understand doesn’t really help them when they get to college and are completely unprepared for next level courses or how to study and retain information for an entire semester.
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 07:53     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:You should probably ask your fellow students if you want the real answer. Getting answers from adults who aren't involved isn't going to help

Great answer.
I think OP is a troll passing for a student.
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 07:51     Subject: Re:Why are kids mad about the new grading?
they're upset because they have to do more work. just wait until they get to college...
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 06:59     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:I know MCPS students so not do much essay and paper writing but how will they get a numeric grade for those. Also how will all the completion assignments be counted (100??)


The same way they always were. By using a hopefully well developed and published rubric that students and parents are aware of.
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 06:25     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
I know MCPS students so not do much essay and paper writing but how will they get a numeric grade for those. Also how will all the completion assignments be counted (100??)
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 05:29     Subject: Re:Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:Under the policy MCPS has been using, for any given semester, if you got an A one quarter and a B the other quarter, MCPS gave you an A for your semester grade. That meant that if you got an A (at least 89.5%) in the first quarter of any semester, you knew you had an A for your semester grade even if you got an 79.5% for the second quarter. That allowed A/B students some grace in the second half of semesters. It’s the 4th quarter. Need more time to study for AP exams? Have a huge year-end project due? No problem, you can put in minimal effort on a few small assignments or turn them in late and let your grade slip to B without your GPA taking any hit, as long as you had an A for the 3rd quarter.

Under the new policy, your percentage for each quarter in a semester will be averaged to determine your semester grade. Let’s say you get a 92% in the third quarter and an 86% for the 4th quarter. Your semester grade would be 89% — a B. Under the old grading system it would have been an A. You’ll end up with a lower GPA under the new policy.

The old policy is more popular with students because it gave them a little wiggle room for the second and fourth quarters, which often have more projects and more content covered on tests.

+1

I don’t mind the new grading system at all. I do have a rising senior and do appreciate this is not the best time for her to have this new grading system. She has benefitted from the old system as described above. Now, when she is doing the final push (colleges want to see first semester or even first quarter grades if doing ED), it’s become harder. This first quarter, along with a challenging schedule, a fall sport and putting final touches on college applications, she’ll really need to get As this quarter. No more ability to do slightly better second quarter when she doesn’t have her sport and still get the semester A.
Anonymous
Post 08/10/2025 00:19     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:They're mad because they were told the policy would take effect for certain graduation years, and then MCPS decided to change that and apply it to all high school and middle school students effective this school year.

Yes, under the initial proposal to change the policy, the new policy was only going to apply to the Class of 2029 and subsequent classes.


Taylor said at a board meeting that their grading systems can't be configured for two different grading policies concurrently for students taking the same class. For example, many HS math classes have students of different grades. So, you couldn't have 10th graders in the class having one grading policy and 11th graders in the same class having the other.
Anonymous
Post 08/09/2025 22:21     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
The new policy is much more logical and fair. It can't come soon enough.
Anonymous
Post 08/09/2025 22:12     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
Anonymous wrote:They're mad because they were told the policy would take effect for certain graduation years, and then MCPS decided to change that and apply it to all high school and middle school students effective this school year.

Yes, under the initial proposal to change the policy, the new policy was only going to apply to the Class of 2029 and subsequent classes.
Anonymous
Post 08/09/2025 21:52     Subject: Why are kids mad about the new grading?
They're mad because they were told the policy would take effect for certain graduation years, and then MCPS decided to change that and apply it to all high school and middle school students effective this school year.