By REMI WEBB and AVA ALBICOCCO
Recently a new grade weighting policy was established by the Jericho Board of Education in order to make further distinctions between course levels. This policy is scheduled to go into effect in July, and students’ grade point averages (GPAs) will be recalculated to reflect the change.
The new system will balance weights for courses considered more rigorous and make clearer designations between these courses and electives. In the current system which was established during the 1989-1990 school year, all courses that are Regents level and above earn a .3 additive when calculating the weighted GPA. Additionally, all electives including Science Research, music, and art currently have no additive. The revised policy assigns a .2 additive to any music, art or Regents level course, a .3 additive to any courses with college designation, and a .4 additive to AP classes, research classes, and a few other specific classes such as Multivariable Calculus and Advanced Computer Programming.
Curriculum Associate for High School Counseling Mr. Gregory Sloan indicated that the new policy’s intention was not to drastically alter students’ GPAs. He said, “It was made to accurately reflect the difference in rigor amongst our course offerings, which is exactly what a weighting system is designed to do.”
Mr. Sloan explained that in fact the difference between taking a Regents level and an AP course will have a minimal impact on a student’s overall GPA. Mr. Sloan experimented by recalculating dozens of students’ averages to see precisely what the impact of the new weighting policy would be. On average, the change to students’ GPAs was +/-.0077 to .0857. He said, “So we’re hoping that when students realize that that’s the case, that they’re not going to be making their course decisions based on the number that’s associated with the additive, but take the most rigorous course load that they can in a healthy way.”
Curriculum Associate for High School Counseling Mr. Sloan explained that the purpose of the new policy is to create a weighting system that’s more reflective of course variations.
Some teachers believe that the new policy will benefit students and create balance within the weighting system because of the range of complexity within the courses offered.
Physics teacher Mr. Cicale has taught many different levels of science classes and believes that this policy is an attempt at parity, giving greater weight to a student’s GPA when they successfully complete a more demanding course. He said, “I think initially students will opt towards the higher level courses, but eventually the demands will overwhelm students.”
Others believe that the change will have a negative effect on high school students. Sociology and AP Psychology teacher Ms. Flockhart said, “The classes that now will receive more weighting, more students will take, and it’s taking away from a lot of the courses that really enhance the high school experience.”
Similarly, English teacher Ms. Palumbo who teaches AP and college level classes said, “I am concerned because one of the number one stressors is being overburdened by AP classes.”
She believes by increasing the additive from .3 to .4 for AP courses, students will feel pressure to take courses with the higher additive. She said, “Students might even feel like they did something wrong by taking the Regents class.”
However, preliminary reports from Mr. Sloan about next year’s student registration show that the opposite is true. He said, “The high school counselor’s recently finished scheduling course requests for the next school year and we found that there was no impact on AP or college course requests.”
Some students believe that this revision is an improvement. Junior Evan P. said “It is beneficial that the school is rewarding students who are taking more challenging courses such as Science Research.”
Similarly, senior Tara K. said, “The students who are taking the AP classes will receive the extra credit they deserve.”
However, some students are not persuaded by this new weighting system and will continue to take courses based on requirements and interest rather than weighting. Freshman Lilly M. said, “I am going to take the same courses throughout high school as I originally was planning on taking.”