By Georgia Tankard
The new mandatory 10-point grading scale has spurred fresh attitudes among students, a transitioning period for teachers, and less complaining from parents.
The uniformity of the grading scale throughout school departments has aligned Lane with the grading scale of many elementary schools and other selective enrollment high schools.
“It looks to us like we are seeing a little bit of a shift upwards,” said Ms. Coorlas, a Lane counselor, regarding the recent quarter grades of students thus far.
Moreover, many Lane students have noticed changes with their own grades.
“My grades from this year are definitely higher. It is the most important year and the one that colleges look at the most,” said Moises Garcia, Div. 354. “It encourages me more because if this is a 10-point grading scale it makes it easier [for me] to get a higher grade.”
“I wish the grading scale had changed last year because I think I would have gotten straight A’s,” said Fikayo Masha, Div. 282. “My GPA would have been better.”
If the change had occurred during her Junior year, Masha believes it would have impacted her ability to get accepted to colleges because achieving an A might have been easier. Colleges didn’t see the complex grading system for each school, and thus “there is no way a college would know how hard you had to work for an A,” Coorlas said.
“We would only send colleges explanations of our GPA but nothing describing the different scales in each department,” said Ms. Console, a Lane Counselor. “Every department was so different, but now that we are all uniform, colleges are now aware that we are using a 10-point grading scale.”
While there has been a slight shift upwards in student’s grades so far, according to Coorlas, grades this year may turn out to be similar to past years. Teachers are making their classes harder, and students get the mentality that “I could have done less and still gotten an A.”
“It makes me less motivated because I know that my grade will stay in the same range, [within the ten points],” said Mashaa.
During her senior year Masha admits to working less, and feeling more relaxed knowing that the scale is easier on her grades. This is a prime example of the Pygmalion effect; the belief that people perform better if expectations are higher.
Like Masha, many students are seeing a shift in attitude towards school.
“It has made me less inclined to do my work because there is more of a barrier between an A and a B,” said Jordan Ginsburg, Div 467.
Due to the 10 points between each letter grade, Ginsburg feels that she doesn’t have to work as hard.
“My parents were happy with the grading scale change because they thought I would do better,” said Ginsburg.
Hope Basil, Div. 354, believes that she is still working hard but the change in the grading scale has prompted less stress.
“This year is more important academically than last year and so I think I am stressing more than last year, but I think the grading scale has helped diminish that stress,” Basil said.
Mr. Lewis, an AP Human Geography teacher, feels like it is a teacher’s responsibility to motivate students. If he sees students showing an unsatisfactory work ethic, he acts accordingly.
“I think a student’s work ethic is dependent upon me and how I motivate them; you have to show students you care,” Lewis said.
While many students have noticed changes with their work ethic, the intention of the change in the grading scale was not to make school easier.
“We are not trying to make it easier for students, we are trying to make it fairer,” Coorlas said.
The change was made to comply with parental concerns about elementary students being at a disadvantage if they came to Lane, versus attending another selective enrollment school due to the grading scale.
“Essentially teachers are working at what is an A, B, C, D and F and what is a high level paper versus a low level one. Over the course of a few tests and grades given, we have to readjust our perspective on that,” said Mr. Bertenshaw, an English and AP Language and Composition teacher. “Instead of only having a five point range you have a 10-point range for a paper to be strong in.”
While he feels that he may have to make changes to his tests in the future, Bertenshaw’s approach to grading essays remains the same.
“Students essays need to be really thorough, polished and exact in order to receive the highest grade, and that has always been my style,” Bertenshaw said.
Other teachers have made different changes.
“I’m adjusting how much of a curve I give on tests; in particular now [I’m] doing a reverse curve on tests where you get more of a curve the higher you score on a test,” Lewis said.
Based on the quarter grades Lewis noticed certain trends.
“I saw a lot of B’s and not enough A’s,” said Lewis. “It was hard to break into A territory because I was trying to be tough enough where the grades were pushed down but not over-inflated,” Lewis said.
With the change in the grading scale, Lewis felt he needed to be harsh on some level to ensure that not everyone was getting an A, and also had to change his mindset regarding what A level work is.
“If something is B work it deserves an 8 out of 10 now,” said Lewis. “What I have to look at is what students have been turning in to me and once I put several grades in I see if these grades match with what I’ve been seeing in terms of work, performance on tests, what I think they can do on the AP exam. If the grades are too harsh, then maybe I decide to adjust it myself or give extra credit.”
As teachers adapt their own methods, they are relieved to receive fewer complaints from parents.
“This year I have not received a single email complaint from a parent,” said Mr. Golden, a Math teacher.
The change in Lane’s grading scale has brought about uniformity in the school and positive feedback from parents, teachers, and students.
