My kid goes to an MCPS school that is not a W school (part of the DCC). The number of kids with 4.0s in challenging classes is very very small.

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.

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?

LOL, I don't consider it unjust...it seems very fair and holds students accountable. MCPS, on the other hand, is cheating kids out of a proper education and handing out As like candy. I know the college admissions person is weighing both schools appropriately and realizes even if my kid might have a lower grade than the MCPS student, she is a stronger student.

Arrogance is unbecoming.

The truth hurts doesn't it? Just realize that if your kid is at MCPS, they will be evaluated with a different lens than the harder working student in a private school.

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.

College admissions departments know which districts (and schools) have grade inflation, and where a 4.0 has to be earned. Unfortunately, with grade inflation, someone who works very hard has no way to differentiate on GPA, so will have to find other ways to do it (high SAT, outside of school enrichment, etc.) I have to agree that a 4.0 at MCPS does not mean what it meant even three years ago, even without the ludicrous 90 = A thing. I'm not sure why this is happening--some combo of Covid, focus on equity, and generally mailing it in. It's just more indication that MCPS continues to fail. I heard the other day about a SLAC that won't admit from BCC anymore, it's sort of a well-known thing. I guess they got burned a few times.

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!

I'm so jealous. We're in CT (Fairfield County) and an A is a 93. An A-minus is 90-92.

Also, throughout my kid's 2.5 years of high school, no teacher has ever offered retakes. You get what you get.

I think the +/ minus system is better. My kid had an 89.4 or something almost that close to an “A” in a couple classes(the whole semester) and then 98 percent in a couple other classes. It frustrates him to see a “B” and “A” when it could have been B+ and A+… not fair the kid with at 80 gets the same mark as a kid with 89, and so on…
Oh well. This is why standardized testing matters and out of school activities matter

Every school send colleges a grading profile. Fairfield CT kids do not need to worry about Bethesda MD kids grades. Colleges know that even with 1 school system a particular teacher may grade entirely differently than another. They also know that Algebra is not the same class in all places.

Anonymous wrote:Not NOVA, but our DC private only looks at core classes and fine arts for their GPA.

Letter A, B, C, D, F
Number 92-100, 84-91, 76-83, 70-75, 0-69
Points 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, 1.0, 0

Either way, admission knows about counties or school with inflationary GPAs, or the area rep at least should and if not is shows in the school report. That will put it all into perspective, so no reason to sweat it much IHMO.

It really only hurts the super smart kids in MCPS when you make such an easy grading scale.

FCPS parent. We have rolling grade book but it’s very very hard to pull up to an A if you’re at a C for first semester. The grades are cumulative. Also, you need above a 93 to get an A. MCPS system sounds truly wackier than ours. I have to assume colleges take that into consideration.

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?

LOL, I don't consider it unjust...it seems very fair and holds students accountable. MCPS, on the other hand, is cheating kids out of a proper education and handing out As like candy. I know the college admissions person is weighing both schools appropriately and realizes even if my kid might have a lower grade than the MCPS student, she is a stronger student.

Arrogance is unbecoming.

PP here who posted about the private school grading scale. I will add that there are no retakes for tests, but there are sometimes bonus questions on tests. Also if there are opportunities to correct errors on tests, but that is a separate grade from the test that is worth very little in terms of weighting on the entire class grade. It's great they have the opportunity to do corrections, but it's not like they are getting a second chance on the test, which is what they are doing at MCPS.

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?

LOL, I don't consider it unjust...it seems very fair and holds students accountable. MCPS, on the other hand, is cheating kids out of a proper education and handing out As like candy. I know the college admissions person is weighing both schools appropriately and realizes even if my kid might have a lower grade than the MCPS student, she is a stronger student.

Anonymous wrote:Between MCPS absolutely ridiculous grading scale and the fact that they are not allowed to administer final exams, it’s a wonder those kids are prepared for college. And it’s absurd that MCPS students are compared to students from schools that have strict grading scales, no test retakes, homework graded for accuracy and no weighting for honors/AP classes.

+1 IMO, this is why standardized test are a better measure to compare kids between districts. Grades are meaningless, not only because of grade inflation, but because some grading is very subjective, even in math. Some teachers will take off points for omitting something simple, while others won't.

The grading scale is ridiculous. It should be a straight up mean.

My kid was also allowed to do "test corrections," which means getting more points for a test if you stayed in during lunch and corrected your mistakes.

BUT, much of this easy grading comes from parental pressure. I know several teachers (from rich districts or private schools) who left the field because principals made them cave on grading standards, based upon pressure from influential parents. They were also forced to pass kids who cheated, despite the stated rule of not doing so.

Definitely do not understand the poster who is arguing about the MCPS grading scale, but for my LCPS (VA) kids, there were only retakes in certain classes (Mostly math if I recall), where you could bring your grade up to a 80 (no higher) if it was less and of course late work was late work and penalized.

My kid graduated with a 4.60 W but he calculated his UW at one point and it was just under 4.0 because he did have some A-. Not everyone everywhere has a UW 4.0.