A friend from Virginia Beach writes me today about potential changes in the Virginia Beach grading scale. Here’s his email:
Parents of school kids are being asked by Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) to take a survey to measure opinion about a proposal to adapt a new grading scale. VBCPS currently uses the following scale:
94 to 100 A 4.0
86 to 93 B 3.0
78 to 85 C 2.0
70 to 77 D 1.0
69 & Below E 0.0
The new proposed scale is this:
94 to 100 A 4.0
90 to 93 B+ 3.7
86 to 89 B 3.0
82 to 85 C+ 2.7
78 to 81 C 2.0
74 to 77 D+ 1.7
70 to 73 D 1.0
69 & Below E 0.0
Essentially the proposed scale adds “+” grades at the D, C, and B level in order to give students performing in those ranges a bit higher GPA than what they were receiving in the past (a student receiving a 92 in a subject will now show 3.7 on their transcript instead of 3.0).
Although the proposed grading scale steps in the correct direction of recognizing the achievement of students performing at the higher end of each of the grade levels, it still fails to address the fact that VBCPS students do not, when applying for college admission, compete on an equal footing with students from other school systems where the 10-point scale is in use.
The 10-point scale will likely look familiar (it did to me as it was the one in use when I was in school):
93 to 100 A 4.0
90 to 92 A- 3.7
87 to 89 B+ 3.3
83 to 86 B 3.0
80 to 82 B- 2.7
77 to 79 C+ 2.3
73 to 76 C 2.0
70 to 72 C- 1.7
67 to 69 D+ 1.3
63 to 66 D 1.0
60 to 62 D- 0.7
59 & Below F 0
First of all, grading scales should be regarded as objective measures of performance used by educational institutions, not methods of inspiring, motivating, or setting standards for students. Virginia’s major state schools, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia, use the 10-point scale, so should VBCPS.
Since most schools do not use the current or proposed VBCPS grading scales, the result will always be that, when competing for acceptance to college, a VBCPS student with an average of 89 (B, 3.0) will pale in comparison to an 89 student from a 10-point school whose transcript will show B+ 3.3.
I appreciate that the school board and some parents want to guard against “lowering the standard.” However, in light of the fact that the 10-point scale is in use by our major universities, it seems that both the current and proposed VBCPS grading scales artificially inflate the standard.
In the end, I believe it is the job of the school board to set an objective scale by which our kids’ performance is measured, and in order for that scale to be truly objective, it needs to be consistent with what the majority of the schools in the state, including our colleges and universities, are using.
Conversely, it is not the job of the school board to set standards or to motivate students. That is primarily the job of parents who are assisted in that endeavor by teachers.
If my choice is the current scale or the proposed scale, I choose the proposed scale, but it still does not correct the underlying problem. Both should be dropped in favor of the 10-point scale.
