It would be more fair to change grading scale all at once

Last year the State Board of Education voted to grade high school students on a 10-point scale, putting them more in line with their peers in other states. But in doing so, they created a potential nightmare for teachers and an unequal system for students. When the board meets Wednesday to consider the concerns of school officials and parents, it should drop plans to phase in the grading system and instead implement it across the board.

While many other states grade on a 10-point scale, North Carolina for years has had a narrower seven-point scale, requiring that students score higher to get a good grade. On the latter, anything less than an 85 is a C or below. A 70 is the bottom C on a 10-point scale.

That will change next year, following the State Board of Education's decision to put the state's grading scale in line with other states and most colleges and universities. But the board's decision to phase in the changes beginning with next year's freshman class has generated protests from parents, students and educators who rightly note that many high school classes feature students of different grade levels.

"The way policy is going to be implemented, they will be phasing in the 10-point scale, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense," said Tim Markley, superintendent of the New Hanover County Schools. He's right.

It is likely that two students with identical scores in the same class next fall would wind up with two different letter grades unless the new scale is applied universally. In some cases the difference between the two scales can affect athletic participation and grade-point average. A student in a state using the 10-point scale with an 83 average has a 3.0 GPA, while in North Carolina the same student would have a 2.0.

Equity is not the only concern, however. Teachers already swimming in red tape have to deal with two different grading scales for the same course.

The state's superintendents, including Markley, agree that if this change is put in place, it should apply to all students beginning next fall, as a matter of consistency. At the same time the scale is widening, the extra points added for AP and honors classes will tighten – both to be more consistent with other states and to encourage top students to take some "unweighted" classes that interest them without fear of hurting their GPAs.

An interest in music, art or hands-on, vocation-oriented classes such as automotive technology or computer networking could hurt students with GPAs above 4.0, even if they got an A. The superintendents want to phase in the change in weighting, which is applied only after classes are completed, but put the 10-point scale in place for all students next fall.

The state board should listen to the people who have to deal with the fallout of well-intentioned policies. These changes will have an impact on every student attending a North Carolina high school. They should be applied fairly.