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How Grading Scales Affect You
In the college admissions process, find out how grading scales affect you.
Featured Author:
Andrew Flagel, PhD
Andrew Flagel is the Dean of Admissions and Associate Vice President for Enrollment Development for George Mason University, where he also teaches in the Department of Communication.
Dean Flagel has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Psychology and a Master of Arts in Education from GW, and his Ph.D. in Education from Michigan State University. He has been a featured guest on C-Span’s Washington Journal, and his quotes have appeared in recent educational stories in Newsweek, US News and World Report, The Washington Post, and even Teen Vogue.
By Andrew Flagel, Dean of Admissions and Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Development,George Mason University
In August, I was on a panel with some other folks talking about the local grading scales with a moderator from USA Today. The last time I dug into the subject on my blog I got some great feedback (including being called full of excrement). That kind of robust and thoughtful feedback was probably helpful in prepping for the live session. Here’s basically what I said:
- Admissions offices, for the most part, read grades in context.
At Mason, for instance, I assign staff to read specific schools from the areas where they recruit, and divide up our largest feeder schools so everyone has similar application review assignments. In addition to getting to know their schools from experience, each school sends a profile explaining their grading scale. As a result, the person bringing the application to committee usually has a very good idea how to look at that school’s grades.
- There is little evidence that grading scales change actual grades, but also none I’ve found that they don’t.
There are some who claim that with tougher grading scales students get lower letter grades, while others claim the grades normalize. In other words, teachers may (or may not, depending on who you believe) give out the same number of A’s, B’s, and C’s. I haven’t seen enough data to convince me either way. To quote a former post, “it’s at least POSSIBLE, even reasonably possible, that the grading scale in class means very very very little to your GPA — that if they changed the grading scale you’d have still gotten that C for the work you did the night before it was due (and consider yourself lucky, mister!).”
- Weighting— the practice of giving extra points for honors, advanced placement, or IB courses—changes grades A LOT more than grading scales.
I read files from a school in New Jersey last year with students in the 7.0 and higher range – on a FOUR POINT SCALE!!! Some schools recalculate to scrub out the weighting, which then places more emphasis on the grading scale IF the grading scale changes letter grades.
- Even if all scales were the same it still wouldn’t be equal.
I hear from schools within the same system all the time that their school is harder, or that there are so many smart kids in that school that it’s harder to do well, or that there are so few smart kids and the school is so easy that they can’t get the support to get ahead. And then I hear from students in the same school in courses with the same name that the one teacher gave everyone A’s while another was just harder or just didn’t like teaching and took it out on that one class. And let’s face it, that teacher may just hate you.
pedersoncody
2 days ago
Please tell me if any of you agree that an A- should be worth less than an A or an A+ when factoring the letter grade into your gpa. My school has started practicing this starting this year and it is absolutely ridiculous.
DeanFlagel
3 months ago
Sorry Heidi - that may not be the case. While it's possible that in a different grading scale your 91 would have been an 'A', based on the limited research in the field showing that most teachers adjust their grading and tests to their scale, it's more likely that in a class where a 90-100 rated an 'A' the test and grading would have resulted in you receiving an 89. In other words, your GPA is controlled by the teacher and grading, not by the scale. You could just as easily lament that the teacher didn't offer an easier test or curve the grades to get you up to a 92 - THAT would influence GPA far more than changing the grading scale.
HeidiT14
4 months ago
At my school every teacher in my high school has a different grading scale then in middle school. My school is a k-12 school so it was very difficult from going from a 90-a 80-b 70-c scale to a 92-a 83-b 74-c scale. Ive had many 91 that now on my tanscript says that I had a B when at most schools I would've had an A. So grading scales do effect your grades. because if my grading scale was like most i wouldve had all A's this year instead of A's and B's.