Weighted Grades Notice Mistakenly Sent Out
Noticed states that grades in college preparatory courses would begin being weighted 'effective immediately.'
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District officials said incorrect information regarding the weighting of college preparatory courses at the high schools was “inadvertently disseminated” to students and parents last week.
Officials sent out a notice to parents Thursday afternoon that the district would begin weighting the grades students receive in college prep courses "effective immediately."
Officials quickly sent out a retraction, saying the earlier notice was “inadvertently sent” and to disregard the message.
Cathy Labate, the district’s director of secondary education, did not respond to a request for comment Monday. Superintendent of Schools Ray Gonzalez could not be reached for comment.
A letter from Lebate and Assistant Superintendent Marysol Berrios further explaining that there would be no change to the current high school grading system this year was sent out Friday afternoon.
“The examination of our grading system has been a discussion between the Board of Education and administration for a number of years as part of the ongoing efforts to ensure that our secondary programs and practices reflect the highest standards,” the letter states.
The letter also states that officials would be “soliciting voluntary participation from district and community stakeholders” to gather information regarding the issue of weighted grades.
“We anticipate that by working together we will be able to incorporate changes that not only maximize our students’ potential, but also provide for a true representation of each one’s success,” the letter stated.
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Chris Traynor
3:40 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
My understanding is that the Level 1 College Preparatory courses - to better reflect the difficulty of the course - would have received a 0.50 GPA "grade premium" applied to the student's marks ... so that an unweighted grade of 88 (B - 3.0 grade points) would, instead receive a 3.5 gpa (A-/B+).
The Board is portraying this very strange retraction of a fully formed and significant change to the guiding philosophy behind the grading of College Preparatory Courses as an administrative error. With so many of us actual products of this fine educational system, how could they ever think that we would accept that answer as the full truth?
This has all the signs of a cave-in. As parents ... as "customers" and financial sponsors of the schools and the Board payroll, we deserve a bit more respect.
I want an official response to this Keystone Kop "inadvertency."
Wayne's World
7:12 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Chris - couldn't a more accurate picture be portrayed with a different grading system, such as B = 3.0, B+ 3.3, A- 3.7 and A = 4.0? It would make up for some of the disparities of not having a true +/- system. College Level 1 preparatory courses are what I would consider "normal" courseload and will result in grade inflation. As you have described it, the weighted system would diminish the achievements of the AP students who are truly deserving. And colleges would probably be wise to this grade inflation within a few years with so many high marks coming out of one school system. On the other hand, it might boost our statewide NJ Monthly ranking, so who knows. I don't think we'd be doing any kid a favor who is in regular college prep by inflating grades and setting them up for greater struggle or abject failure at the next level.
Scondo
3:40 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
An awful indictment of the education process in the nation today. Weighting is another form of cooking the academic books.
Wayne's World
3:40 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
What does it mean to be weighted? I believe that AP courses are weighted to account for increased, almost college-level coursework. Meaning that an A is more than a 4.0. Does college preparatory refer to AP courses, or the Level 1 (as they used to call it) courses that most of the college-oriented students were put into. It makes total sense to weight AP classes to demonstrate superior workload and achievement. Anything below that should not be weighted, as all it does is skew and devalue the all-important GPAs of the truly top students, while doing no favors to more average students other than to artificially pump up their grades.
Scondo
7:12 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
AP or Advanced Placement Courses are courses set up by College Board and are intended to provide college level course work to students of advanced standing while they are in high school, thereafter they take the AP exam and if they secure a test score of sufficiently high level they may become entitled to receive college credit.
Weighting as described here is nothing more than attempting to raise all the boats with a flood tide of grade inflation. This practice is wrong and it is usually a response to disctrict wide parental pressure and weighted grade systems do not sit well with college officials responsible for admission. On the AP level the colleges have written policy covering award of credit, as much as they hate to lose the revenue they can squeeze out of people.
Scondo
7:12 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Most schools pre screen students before allowing them to take AP classes, most often the ones taking AP classes are at the top of their game , NHS or the like, or with a sufficiently high gpa. But even some colleges abuse the AP system in refusing to allow credits as it messes with their money flow.
Chris Traynor
7:12 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
With rare exception, "average students" do not carry the workload of Level 1 College Preparatory Courses. The students who consistently work and perform at the level necessary to be considered for these courses, have GPA's that are as all-important as the truly top students. If you haven't guided a 16/17 year old into the ultra-competitive and stressful world of college acceptance, in the last decade, your assessment of this situation is bordering on the outdated.
kat
3:40 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
They should be weighted at least by .5! This is NOT fair for level one students. They deserve much more.
Tls
9:17 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I can agree with Wayne's World that using a B=3.0, B+=3.3, etc. would be fine. Giving any more than that to a college prep (as opposed to an AP) course would be terrible. As it is, the best colleges look at an unweighted GPA, even for AP courses, because they know about the games districts play. Giving more weight to a college prep undermines the work that the AP students are doing, which is significantly harder than college prep. Reminds me of the line for from the movie, The Incredibles, "Let's make everybody special so that no one is special."
Chris Traynor
10:54 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
To All:
My original gripe should have been written more clearly as to WHY I BELIEVE this story is worthy of follow-up by our journalistic community. I applaud Wayne PATCH for getting the ball rolling but we need to press the issue. Let's forget, for the moment, the validity of weighting any LEVEL ! COLLEGE PREP COURSES may or may not receive, and instead, dig for the truth regarding how and when this rather significant change to Wayne's grading policy took place? What evidence and/or resources were used to make this policy change? What experts were called in to give their views? Was this a public session or a private one? AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT PROMPTED THE ISSUING OF BOTH THE EMAILED AND HANDED OUT NOTICES OF THIS POLICY CHANGE (surely the creation of this new policy was not an administrative error) AND WHAT REALLY CAUSED THE BOARD TO RECALL THEIR AGREED-UPON PLAN AND DELAY ITS IMPLEMENTATION FOR, AT LEAST, ONE YEAR???
When an important policy change is sent out in error, it does not require the policy to be abandoned without explanation!!! There is a story here ... and its not administrative incompetence ... its inexplicable bowing to disguised public pressure. We have the right to know what happened AND what is also happening right now.
PLEASE, insist that The Board comment ON THE RECORD.
Joe videodummy
6:15 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
Wayne BOE continues to believe universities are blind. While test scores, GPA, and course load are important, they are far from the whole story. Colleges want to see that the student challenged themselves with courses in those demanding classes, and excelled without padding the final grade.
Something sparked the administration to prompt the change, and something prompted them to decide that the change didn't have the same immediate impact that it did when it was initially rendered.
Students Intellectual drive and curiosity are being shelved because of an administrative error ? We deserve to know why ?
By delaying this decision for 1 year, it's actually being delayed 2 years since the change wouldn't take effect until the fall of 2014, leading me to believe the problem lyes somewhere at the middle school level.
Tls
10:59 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
Are you sure it is NOT administrative incompetence? Are you sure that people in the administration are not making inept decisions and then backtracking when the public finds out?