What Grading Scale do most of you use?

[Momof3Maidens]

Originally we've used our local public school's grading scale which is the following:

 

100 - 93 A

92 - 86 B

85 - 77 C

76 - 70 D

69 and Below F

 

My freshman daughter and I recently attended a workshop on Dual Credit at a local community college nearby. The workshop speaker which was their Director of K-12 Partnerships said that their grading scale was 100 - 90 A, 89 - 80 B, and so forth and when students came in with their transcripts and GPA's it would make it easier to use the grading scale they use. I've wanted to use that scale just because it seems easier. I guess I'm just curious as to what most of you are using. Thanks ahead for your sharing!

[Storm Bay]

Originally we've used our local public school's grading scale which is the following:

 

100 - 93 A

92 - 86 B

85 - 77 C

76 - 70 D

69 and Below F

 

My freshman daughter and I recently attended a workshop on Dual Credit at a local community college nearby. The workshop speaker which was their Director of K-12 Partnerships said that their grading scale was 100 - 90 A, 89 - 80 B, and so forth and when students came in with their transcripts and GPA's it would make it easier to use the grading scale they use. I've wanted to use that scale just because it seems easier. I guess I'm just curious as to what most of you are using. Thanks ahead for your sharing!

 

 

I'm not sure what scale to use. It's different in Canada, where I grew up, and now that I've seen American scales I finally see why a D is considered a passing grade in the US. In Canada, a D is a failing grade. I would prefer to use percentages in case my dc apply to Canadian universities as well as Americal colleges, but I'm not sure yet.

 

Either that, or the scales have changed since I was in school.

[Angel]

My grading scale matches the community college. That is how it was when I was in high school. I don't understand the change to the 100-93 scale, to be honest. But maybe that's because I'm not used to it.;)

[Pamela H in Texas]

To me, moving an A back to 90 seems like "the change." I have always thought it as "dumbing down."

 

But I've changed, finally.

 

HOWEVER, though I do now have 90 as an A and an 80 as a B (for my son), C's and D's are in the 70's; and I still have 69 as an F. I can only go so nuts. There is no way on earth I'm counting a 60-something as passing! And nothing under an 85 is acceptable here for a test and daily work is still done to 100%.

[Momof3Maidens]

To me, moving an A back to 90 seems like "the change." I have always thought it as "dumbing down."

 

But I've changed, finally.

 

HOWEVER, though I do now have 90 as an A and an 80 as a B (for my son), C's and D's are in the 70's; and I still have 69 as an F. I can only go so nuts. There is no way on earth I'm counting a 60-something as passing! And nothing under an 85 is acceptable here for a test and daily work is still done to 100%.

 

 

I know what you mean, I have felt the same way. I guess that's why I've been reluctant in using that scale. And I can't imagine 60 being a passing grade here either!

[AnitaMcC]

Originally we've used our local public school's grading scale which is the following:

 

100 - 93 A

92 - 86 B

85 - 77 C

76 - 70 D

69 and Below F

 

My freshman daughter and I recently attended a workshop on Dual Credit at a local community college nearby. The workshop speaker which was their Director of K-12 Partnerships said that their grading scale was 100 - 90 A, 89 - 80 B, and so forth and when students came in with their transcripts and GPA's it would make it easier to use the grading scale they use. I've wanted to use that scale just because it seems easier. I guess I'm just curious as to what most of you are using. Thanks ahead for your sharing!

 

For us we are using:

90-100 A

80-89 B

70-79 C

below 70 F

 

Dh and I have decided that anything less than a 70 is unacceptable for us in our homeschool. Figure if we wanted the kids to get low grades then we could keep them in public schools. I don't mean that as negative as it sounds. Just that in our experiences public schools accept low grades for their students. That the schools just can't or won't meet the needs of students.

 

So in our way of homeschooling... any time the kids get a grade lower than a 70 on a test... they have to redo the whole section covered on that test.

 

If they get less than a 85, they have to redo the assignment/test and then we will average the two scores for a final score on that assignment/test. So if they do a math test and score a 80... then redo it a week later and get a 95... they get a score of 87.50 for that test in their grade book. If they did an assignment and received a 65% and then get a 80 on the redo... that gives them a 72.5 for that assignment in their grades. Once they score at least

 

We especially are wanting to do this for math and sciences because so much of each chapter is a foundation for the next chapter. And if they get a lower than 70 in other subjects then they (in our opinion) the child isn't working to their ability. Also we figure that before test time... we will know if the child is having a hard time or not. The homework grades and quizes also all have to be at least a 80% before they can continue to next section/chapter.

 

The reason we are wanting to allow them "redo"s is because our goal for this year is to get them to learn to work hard... put their best effort in their work. In past the public schools allowed them to miss work, do poorly on work and kept going. Dh and I are homeschooling for high school to give our kids a solid education. We want our kids to learn not to just do it and get it over with. So the lesson we are teaching them is to do it right the first time.

[flyingmommy]

I grew up with the 94-100 grading scale. When we moved to Texas, I was appalled to discover that a 90 was an A. Even more shocked to discover that an 80 was a B. When I grew up, an 86 was a big fat C. Ok, a C plus, but still a C.

 

I know the college grading scale is 90-100, but I just can't go by that in our schooling. My daughter is very much of the "good enough" mentality, so lowering the grading scale for her would just give her permission to lower her already low standards.

 

If she gets used to thinking of a 94 as the lowest A she can get, she'll be used to working harder when she gets to college. I hope.

 

Jeannie

[K-FL]

My schooling (Class of '79) had the same scale as our cc/univ. system now:

90's-A

80's-B, etc.

 

Our kids at home must make in the 80's to not have to re-do.

[Okie]

this is the scale I've used for a long time. Based of the local public school and my early ABeka teaching materials

A 100-94 B 93-86 C 85-77 D 76-70 F below 70

[Storm Bay]

For us we are using:

90-100 A

80-89 B

70-79 C

below 70 F

 

Dh and I have decided that anything less than a 70 is unacceptable for us in our homeschool. .

 

 

Since we work for mastery, I've told my dc that anything less than 90 percent average is unacceptable for passing, BUT until high school, we go over mistakes and rework them until it's 100 percent (it's not always up to 90 percent on every single math assignment). Still, their marks (if I give them) are from before we make corrections and I don't give grades; any marking is in percentages.

 

However, high school is a whole different kettle of fish since this is our first official year of it. I don't know how my dd's grades will be yet.

Edited August 19, 2009 by Karin

[Momof3Maidens]

I guess it just boils down to what scale you prefer and including it on your transcript. I probably prefer my original scale over the cc one.

 

Before, like some of you have stated, anything below a 90 called for going back and recovering the material in our homeschool. High School is a different story though. I really don't want to do that anymore, she certainly won't get to do that when she gets in college. And I'm afraid by lowering the A to a 90 it will give her cause to slack off a bit and I don't want that either.

 

This board is so wonderful in that you get to pick others' brains concerning things you're not quite sure of at times. Thanks everyone for allowing me to do that. Blessings!

[HollyinNNV]

100-90 "a"

89-80 "b"

79-70 "c"

[Radish4ever]

My kids are obviously too young to worry about it, but we will use 90sand 100=A, 80s=B and anything less than that is unacceptable.

 

Growing up in Texas, I've never personally gone to a school that has allowed Ds to be "passing" grades, including my community college and my university I got my BA from. I can't imagine how someone could get a 60 on something and get the pat on the back, "Alright, satisfactory completion!" designation. No way!!!

[KAR120C]

I've always had a 90-100 A, 80-89 B, etc. scale... back in high school, and at four different colleges in two states between then and now. That's generally what I use for DS too. But it's not the scale that makes the difference, it's how it relates to the assignment.

 

90% of a too-easy assignment is not A work in my book, where 80% of an extremely challenging assignment could be. If you look at the tests in Singapore's NEM books, there are some EXTREMELY challenging questions... and to match, anything above 80% (or something similarly low) is an A. But to get that A you've had to get all the regular stuff right and some of the real doozies. It's not easy.

 

When it matters for recordkeeping, I keep not only the grades but copies of DS's tests. If anyone really wants to know what exactly he showed mastery of and where he made mistakes, they can read through the whole thing if they want. And we can correlate them to standardized tests. If he's getting A's on everything at home, then he'd better be doing similarly spectacular work on something that colleges can compare directly.

[8filltheheart]

Originally we've used our local public school's grading scale which is the following:

 

100 - 93 A

92 - 86 B

85 - 77 C

76 - 70 D

69 and Below F

 

 

 

This is the grading scale I use.

 

FWIW.....when you create a transcript, you need to include your grading scale. I was shocked to learn that college admissions recalculate GPAs based on their own system when they receive them.

 

As far as dual enrollment courses, you need to order an official transcript from that school which will include its grading scale. I simply label the courses as dual enrolled "whatever" and give the grade received at that school on my transcript with an asterisk explanation that they will be receiving an official transcript from that school.

[ereks mom]

This is the same scale I had as a student in elementary, jr. high, & high school.

 

I think in college & grad school, it was similar, but there were D's for 65-70. I never made any D's, so I'm not sure. ;)

 

I didn't encounter a stricter grading scale until dh was in seminary, where an A was something like 93-100 or 94-100, etc. I figure a grading scale like that is fine for grad school, but a bit too strict for elementary & high school.

[Storm Bay]

I've always had a 90-100 A, 80-89 B, etc. scale... back in high school, and at four different colleges in two states between then and now. That's generally what I use for DS too. But it's not the scale that makes the difference, it's how it relates to the assignment.

 

90% of a too-easy assignment is not A work in my book, where 80% of an extremely challenging assignment could be. If you look at the tests in Singapore's NEM books, there are some EXTREMELY challenging questions... and to match, anything above 80% (or something similarly low) is an A. But to get that A you've had to get all the regular stuff right and some of the real doozies. It's not easy.

 

 

:iagree: This is why arbitrary scales like this make me uncomfortable, but there has to be something.

[TravelingChris]

I do the 90+ = A, 80-89 B, so on. However, my kids do not make Ds or Fs while under my authority so I never had an issue with whether to grant credit. I don't think I would but someone could get a D on something and go on to pass the class. Neither of my two oldest ever wanted to even have Cs so they would rewrite or redo to get their grades up if needed. (I allow correcting mistakes on tests for an additional 50% credit.) SO if someone got a C on one test, they can correct and improve to probably a B if they do all the corrections correctly.

 

My local school district here had 93-100 last year but now they are changing to 90-100 and I moved here in the middle of last year so I continued with the previous school district's 90-100.

[Moni]

We do more of a Mastery method here, so A's all around.

 

Grading in PS is arbitrary, one teacher might make essay tests while the other does matching or multiple choice.

There is a lot of "extra credit" offered, and it is at teacher discretion in the end anyway

:seeya:

Edited August 24, 2009 by Moni