The Fair Grove School System will be implementing a weighted grades system. This system will apply to 12 classes, which include College English & Composition, College Algebra, Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, Dual Credit World History, Dual Credit American History, Physics, Chemistry, Anatomy, and Spanish 3 and Spanish 4. These weighted classes will further help students achieve a 4.0 Grade Point Average or higher. Unfortunately, they won’t apply to this year’s Senior class. “Usually when some new system is implemented, it starts with the freshmen class, so they have time to prepare and plan out their courses. It would have been unfair to the Seniors, because they wouldn’t have had any time to plan,” notes Counselor Rhanda Shaw.  The Junior, Sophomore, and Freshmen classes will be able to take advantage of the system, as well as incoming class in the years to come.

The Weighted Classes will run on a five point scale, compared to your normal class which runs on a four point scale. With the five point scale, An A in a class will count as five points, a B will count as four points, C  three points, with D’s and F’s yet to be decided on how many points they will contribute to your GPA.  As compared to the four point scale, in which A’s are four points, B’s are three points, C’s are two points, and D’s are one point.

Shaw explains, “This is to encourage and motivate kids and to reward them for taking rigorous courses.” As stated in a Leelanau Enterprise article about Pros and Cons of weighted grades, “they also prepare students for the challenges of college and provide students with the experience of the pace and depth of college coursework” (http://www.leelanaunews.com/?q=node/7982).

AP Stats, and Calculus teacher Mrs. Mauldin jokingly commented, “I’m excited for weighted grades, and excited to grade my advanced students a lot harder!” Junior Dylan Appleton also added on by saying, “I like the system. It means there won’t be as many valedictorians, because you can’t just take like 5 P.E classes, get A’s in all of them, and be a valedictorian. Now taking a harder class actually benefits you in the long run!”

“It’s not a true 5.0 scale, with only 12 weighted classes,” notes Shaw. “This will make achieving a 5.0 impossible, until more weighted classes are added to the school’s classes.” The highest achievable GPA with these 12 classes would be a 4.42, but this would require all A’s in those weighted classes and your regular classes.

Another note, is that Personal Finance and Correspondence classes in the summer will not count towards your Class Rank or GPA. This will keep and equal playing field of 28 credits throughout your four years in high school. “Some kids work, and some kids have athletics, so it would be unfair to those kids, because they have a chance at 29 credits,”  explains Shaw.

Implementing the system is only the first step, as Fair Grove will look to add more College Prep courses in the future. This will continue to improve the max GPA Obtainable, and further prepare students for their College years.