A+ is Back in Black
October 16, 2008
Students have feared AP classes for years. Starting next year, weighted grades will be applied to quell such fears. However, for the first month of the 2008-2009 school year, the A+ grade was removed from the grading scale. This would have hurt the GPA’s of seniors without the benefit of extra weight (by putting a ceiling at 4.0 when many students have GPA’s above that) if the original decision had not been amended on September 25.
The school board made the decision to implement weighted grades starting in the 2009-2010 school year on August 21st. The grades would be weighted by a 1.2 multiplier (a 20% increase) applied to grades received in AP classes. This would result in a 4.8 for an A instead of the usual 4.0. In the original decision, the board wanted to phase the system in by removing the A+ now, and applying the multiplier next year.
The ultimate goal of the implementation of weighted grades is to encourage more students to take AP classes. Brian Vo, councilor, thinks it is wonderful that they are weighing grades.
“I think weighted grades makes sense,” said Susie Peichel, an AP teacher from the English Department.
Although the general decision to adapt weighted grades was well received, very few truly understood why they removed the A+.
“Given that the original proposal was to implement weighted grades for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, it made sense to eliminate the A+ grade option for all grades over that proposal,” began Ellen Ayers, school board member, when explaining the original decision. “But when the board voted to change the original proposal and only offer the weighted grades only to 10th and 11th grade students, and still eliminate the A+ grade option… I didn’t fully understand the implications of what that change meant in regards to the impact on the senior class.”
A student at Woodbury High School can be thanked for the return of the A+. Aarti Anand, a Woodbury senior, wrote a petition to get the grade back. At a community meeting discussing the weighted grades and A+, Anand and some of her friends spoke with Linda Plante, Woodbury principle, about the issue. There was a member of the board at the meeting who said their argument was very legitimate. The next step was to start a petition.
Anand knew that it would have to be a district wide effort, so she contacted Dr. Efe Agbamu, principle, to find student council representation from PHS. She was led to Molly Dupuis, grade 12, who is the student council president. Dupuis decided to help Anand, and together they printed over 100 copies of the petition. They passed these out to members of NHS and people in their classes. There was a Facebook group, flyers, and tables set up at lunch for students and staff to sign the petition.
There were some additional questions as to why the petition asked for the A+, but not for the weighted grades to be applied to seniors. Anand understood why the district didn’t give weighted grades to seniors.
“It really would mess up a lot of things with scheduling,” she explained. “For example: people who hadn’t taken AP courses would turn around and say, ‘If we’d known we were getting weighted grades, we would’ve taken AP courses this whole time…’ We just want to keep the A+ and keep it all the same as last year.”
In total, they received 549 signatures. 393 were seniors, 82 juniors and sophomores, 42 parents or community members, and 32 teachers.
Now that the A+ is back for the class of 2009, their GPA’s should all stay at relatively the same level, but there has been mention that switching to a 4.0 scale from a 4.33 scale for the final year may be beneficial.
If Jane Doe’s GPA is 4.21 at the beginning of her senior year, and a 4.0 scale is introduced, her GPA is suddenly 4.21/4.0. Of course it would fall over the course of the year, but certainly not below 4.0. On a college application, Jane’s GPA would appear to be better than she could possibly get at 105.25%. Under the 4.33 scale, that would be only 97.22%. That is a difference of 8.03%!
Anand argued that although it may look better, it doesn’t truly reflect how a student performs. It shows that they did very well in their first years of high school, but then “plateaued” senior year.
Despite this, even students who do not have such rigorous courses as Anand and Dupius like the A+ where it is now.
“I think it’s better [that the A+ is back],” said Joe LaForge, senior, “because I can get my GPA higher.”
by Gerard Van Wijk
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