State Del. David Poisson, D-Loudoun, plans to introduce a bill in Richmond that would require all of Virginia’s school districts to use a uniform 10-point grading system.
Why?
I usually stick up for parents, but on the subject of grade inflation, I’m with Fairfax School Superintendent Jack Dale, who says he will keep FCPS’ strict(er) grading policy even though many other school systems are moving towards lowering their standards.
To earn an “A” in Fairfax County, students have to master 94 percent of the material, compared to 90 percent in some other jurisdictions. The four points determine whether a student’s performance is considered excellent or just very good. It also affects their final grade point average, which colleges take into account during the admissions process.
Thousands of parents of FCPS students complained they were at a disadvantage when competing with kids from school systems that hand out more A’s, but a 128-page, $30,000 report found no clear evidence of that.
However, since GPAs do affect merit scholarships and entrance into collegiate honors programs, FCPS says it will tack on an extra half-point for taking an honors class, and a full point for taking an AP or IB class onto the student’s GPA. This is only fair, since students in those classes do a lot more work than their peers in regular classes, and their extra effort should be rewarded.
But please leave the grading system alone. Public schools across the country have been “dumbing down” for decades. They don’t need any more encouragement.
