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Schools

Overweight Grades?

Does the grading system at Greenwich High School need a diet?

How to weight grades?

The question lends itself to "a good community discussion to have," said Headmaster Chris Winters Monday evening to about 75 parents attending a forum he held regarding weighted grades. By a show of hands, Winters evidenced that there were GHS parents as well as parents of middle and elementary students in attendance. Winters addressed about the same amount of parents at a similar session earlier in the day.

Winters said that the forums, which were preceded by one last week with PTA Council leadership, are informative "opportunities for me to get additional parent input before finalizing a proposal."

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What is on the table?

Winters wants to propose to the superintendent that, beginning with the 9th graders in 2012-2013, a reduction of the weighting of grades for the computation of a student's GPA in all Honors and AP classes from 1.0 to .5 additional credit.

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Also starting in 2012-2013 (and which does not require superintendent or board of education approval), Winters wants to:

  • determine Honor Roll and High Honor Roll using an un-weighted GPA with the current parameters for such distinctions changing accordingly;
  • factor grades in PE and Heath & Wellness into a student's GPA beginning with next year's freshmen;
  • start the practice that any grade in an Honors or AP course of a D+ or lower would not receive the additional grade point advantage in computing the GPA, again starting with next year's freshmen.

Winters has said that all high schools in Fairfield County weight grades with the exception of Wilton and that out of the 22 schools examined, only one other (Joel Barlow in Easton/Redding) uses weights as high as Greenwich (please see grid for other comparisons.)

One reason for the change, Winters said, is that ultimately he would like students to be making decisions on the classes they are choosing to be based on what is in their best interest as far as appropriate difficulty as well as passion for the subject and just not based on a number printed on a piece of paper.

The GHS transcript - what the numbers say

Winters pointed out, by using a snapshot of a GHS transcript, that courses which are Honors or AP are listed in a boldface and accompanied by a * indicating that they are demanding. GHS receives continual positive feedback on this format from admission offices. The other common view expressed by admission staff was their unanimity in the manner that they examine the number of rigorous classes that a student takes and, of course, the student's performance.

Winters said that about half of the colleges take the weight off of the GPAs in order to compare students on an apples to apples basis. The other half basically utilizes the weighted GPA, but even within that group there are variations in their approach.

"What we do know is that generally secondary schools spend about 8-10 minutes initially screening college applications," said Winters, which one could argue would be a reason to keep the weight on the Greenwich grades.

The Weight Advantage

It seems that weight is not a factor in determining eligibility for scholarships awards, which then gives those with weighted GPAs an advantage in competing for such. While Winters said that it is actually a pretty broken system in that all high schools seem to weight and/or not weight differently, making it impossible to make inter-school comparisons fairly.

An Unintended Consequence

As a result of "weight desire", the administration has evidence through surveys and anecdotally, that students make decisions about classes based on weight. Classes such as Mandarin Chinese, Latin, Italian and German, high level political science, social studies and business classes are often NOT chosen by students simply base on their lack of weightings – not in terms of rigor – but in their lack of attractiveness simply based on their non-weight status.

Winters said that while he encourages students to challenge themselves, he also has seen "students being pushed beyond their reach by taking higher level courses and then they get in trouble." However, Winters admitted that there are many factors that play a role in how students choose classes at GHS.

Challenges

One issue that Winters admits will be challenging is the communication process to colleges. In fact, that was the first question that Winters met with: "how are you going to educate these colleges?" on a new weighting process. The parent then answered his own question, stating that he believed that Greenwich High “will confuse schools.”

Another parent, Jennifer Freitag, a mother of a current 8th grader, said that it is "worrisome" to her that as a parent of a high-achieving student how these changes can be clearly communicated to and understood by secondary schools. Freitag said that she does not think her daughter would be making any different decisions on course selection next year, whether the weight is .5 or 1.

The question of equity

Another parent questioned the overall equity issue embedded in the unweighting of Honor Roll giving the example that a student with a 4.0 unweighted GPA would make the Honor Roll over a student with a 3.0 GPA weighted through the proposed .5 weight. “The numbers will not make it possible,” she said for the Honors student to attain Honor Roll. Winters conceded that she made a good point, but circled back to appropriate placed class levels stating that he wants to “reward effort and excellence.”

Mark Davis, who has two sons at GHS, said that from his experience he definitely sees more depth and difficulty in the Honors and AP classes. Davis asked for additional data. For example, he asked to "see the numbers on the percentage of Greenwich kids versus Darien" as it relates to admission rates to the same schools. He called “fairness” an inflammatory topic, which was met with applause.

Schools get graded too

Michael Russell, a parent of a 9th and 2nd grader, pointed out the schools also get "graded” based in the number of AP courses taken as well as the number of students who pass these higher level classes.

In response to the suggestion that AP and Honors should be weighted differently, Winters said that they did not reach a consensus on how to achieve this. Winters also said that he and other staff members have been genuinely surprised about how many people are concerned over how the GPA for PE is calculated. It is not based on athletic ability, he explained, but on effort, motivation and preparedness.

The kids in the middle

Mother of two GHS students, Wendy Reilly Harris, had a different perspective than many voiced during the hourlong forum. Harris said that she “applauded” Winters' efforts in addressing the needs of the “average and sub-average” students at the high school, a group that is often over-looked in discussions about AP and Honors classes.

Next steps

The GHS Headmaster had indicated that he would like to make a proposal to the Superintendent by spring, however he does not want the district's current 8th graders to be making course selections for their freshmen year only to change the rules on them. 

Current weight or decrease?

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