High schools across the country use a variety of grading scales. In Virginia alone, schools currently use one of six different scales. Many Northern Virginia schools use 10-point scales. Other state high schools use five, six, eight and nine-point grading scales.
Henrico County Public Schools is considering whether to move from a seven-point to 10-point grading scale. To ensure that public high school students across the country are judged on an equal playing field, all schools should adopt the same grading scale.
Varina counselors and administrators said that colleges are supposed to take the different grading scales into consideration during the admissions process. While this may occur, the process would be simplified if every student’s GPA were based on the same scale. College admissions departments would not have to translate GPAs to the same scale before comparing them.
Of course, colleges also consider high school profiles, extracurricular activities, standardized test scores and essays when making a decision on an applicant; however, GPA is an important part of the admissions process. With so much competition for college enrollment, the admissions process needs to be as fair as possible.
A recent article in the “Richmond Times-Dispatch” reported that Chesterfield is also considering switching to a 10-point scale. According to the article, the school system wants to be in line with other districts across the country.
Henrico County has created a committee to evaluate the impact of changing to a 10-point scale. No matter what scale schools agree on, it should be the same for students across the country. This will ensure that all student GPAs are comparable.
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