Collegiate Times

With so many different grading scales being used in high schools across the country, the question has often been raised on how college admissions directors accurately compare GPAs of applicants.

Teachers consider different factors when deciding grades, often looking at test grades, homework and class participation. With these variations, admissions directors find it hard to compare grades of students from different schools, even if the students are taking the same courses.

Montgomery County ? along with other school districts ? is experimenting with various ways to decrease the level of subjectivity in the grading process by setting standard criteria for teachers to use when grading students.

At Blacksburg High School, students are assessed on a 10-point grading scale. Weighted credit is given in the form of Advanced Placement or dual enrollment credits, but not in honors or regular courses.

If the student attains an ?A? average in all AP or dual enrolled classes, their GPA can be as high as a 5.0.

?We offer a huge selection of AP courses to our students. Blacksburg High School has 40 AP classes taught in the classroom, as well as some online AP courses,? said Tara Almoney, registrar in the Blacksburg High School guidance office. ?There is a great level of subjectivity among teachers in the grading process; each teacher has his/her own way of grading students.?

In Canada, each province has addressed the problem by developing its own curriculum and criteria to be used by teachers when grading students. In doing this, universities in Canada are able to see how hard the student worked to attain the grade they received.

At Warren County High School, located in rural northern Virginia, the grading scale is much different. Unlike Blacksburg, Warren County uses a seven-point grading scale. Weighted credit is given in AP, honors and dual enrolled classes but not in regular level courses.

?Warren County High School currently offers five AP courses to students that are taught in the classroom and is beginning to offer some AP courses taught online to students,? said Mary Kay Moose, director of guidance for Warren County High School.

Different grading scales are not the only factors that go into calculating students GPAs. At many schools within the state, AP classes and/or honors classes have a heavier weight in GPA than regular classes do.

The amount of weight and of AP or honors classes available to students varies from school-to-school. Many high schools in rural areas in the Commonwealth do not offer students the same amount of AP classes that a school in a more urban area might.

The inconsistency in grades among students from across the country has been an issue for college admission directors and now many are working to standardize the grading scale across the nation. In addition to this, they are also trying to figure out a better way to compare students? GPAs when reviewing applications for admission. The only accurate way to compare GPAs among applicants now is to take each application on a case-by-case basis, recalculating the student?s GPA on a standard grading scale.

?GPA is definitely a factor in the admissions process at Virginia Tech,? said Amy Widner, public relations coordinator for Tech undergraduate admissions. ?We read applications by territory, meaning we take into consideration the grading scale and area in which the student is applying from.

?Tech maintains a very close relationship with the different school districts in Va. Our admissions counselors know which schools offer few APs, and we take this into consideration when we review student?s applications,? she said.

In order to learn about the different school districts, admissions directors travel to all the high schools in the state and do extensive research on each school and the methods it uses. If a student is applying from a school out-of-state, an extra form is required with a student?s application providing academic information about that school, such as the grading scale and the classes offered to students, in order to see if the student is living up to their full potential within their means.

Such efforts must suffice for the time being, as any other solutions would be difficult to implement.

?Developing a standard grading scale in the U.S. would definitely be an ideal situation, but it would very hard to achieve,? Widner said.