Guest Commentary in The Lexington Minuteman
April 14, 2005
For many years Lexington High School student transcripts have included unweighted and weighted Grade Point Averages (GPAs) which adjust for the academic rigor of the courses, including advanced placement (AP), honors and “Level 1” classes. The school has proposed eliminating weighted GPAs, starting with the incoming freshman class in September. The only GPA reported on transcripts would be unweighted, providing no quantitative adjustment for classroom rigor.
Very few parents know about this proposal, including elementary and middle school parents whose children will be affected. Some parents who have studied the issue believe that eliminating weighted GPAs is ill advised, leading to a number of direct and indirect negative consequences.
Like so many parents who have great respect for LHS faculty, staff and students, I need to tread carefully here. The school community has been studying this proposal for several years, and there is currently broad-based support within the building for eliminating weighted GPAs, in part based on an informal poll done with 73 college admissions officers. One might conclude from the poll that most colleges will adjust to LHS not reporting a weighted GPA. However, the poll also shows that a significant number of colleges not only use, but prefer weighted GPAs as they provide a greater degree of specificity about the rigor of the student’s classes. For example, Georgetown: “Use and prefer weighted GPAs.” Bucknell: “Prefer weighted GPAs.” Loyola Univ.: “Would not pose a hardship but is a problem for scholarship consideration.” Univ. of Miami: The weighted GPA gives a “better sense of performance. We do not recalculate.” There is no doubt from the survey that schools make use of GPA data, and about one out of four specifically stated that weighted GPAs are of value in the admissions process.
College admission has become increasingly competitive over the last decade or so. Students now routinely apply to 8, 10 or more schools. Admissions departments at good-sized schools now process huge numbers of undergraduate applications, including over 16,000 at UMASS Amherst and nearly 30,000 at BU! While admissions departments consider many factors in the selection of a student, efficiently screening large numbers of applicants places significant importance on the specificity of quantitative information provided.
The GPA is the only quantitative measure provided directly by LHS. While many colleges report that they “recalculate” the GPA, it would be impossible for schools to actually re-input each student’s unweighted data and re-compute it. It is implausible to believe that the busy admissions officer will count how many LHS Level 2, Level 1, honors and AP courses a student has taken, somehow adjust for the grades given, and accurately re-weight the data. Moreover, how do we expect them to rank our students against other peer schools in the Boston area, when 14 out of 15 of these schools provide weighted GPAs?
Parents appreciate Principal Michael Jones’ and the staff’s efforts to seek broad comment and debate on how student academic performance appears on the permanent record. At a forum on this topic at the high school April 6th, many parents expressed their concerns about abolishing the weighted GPA. In sports, music and a host of other pursuits at LHS we recognize not just effort, but high achievement. Although the initiative has the laudable goal of reducing student competition and stress, parents noted that Lexington has a diverse community and for some, the weighted GPA is the equivalent of their varsity letter. If we are going to abolish the weighted GPA, why not get rid of the distinction between varsity and J.V., all-state recognition in debate and the honors orchestra? The weighted GPA properly recognizes student academic excellence without creating the undue internal competition that can come from class rankings.
The faculty and staff, along with the rest of the Lexington community, care deeply about academic standards at the school, and I urge every stakeholder to consider the potential unintended negative consequences of this proposal. Students recognize that taking advanced classes presents not only additional work, but also academic risk because of the impact on the GPA, and therefore on college admissions. Revoking the weighting system will logically make students shy away from these classes. As a consequence, fewer students will attempt to challenge themselves with Level 1, honors or AP courses resulting in a host of unintended consequences: fewer capable students enrolling, inappropriate placement of students in less challenging courses, shifts in grading of these classes to spur enrollment, etc. Perhaps the greatest loss of all, however, will be the failure to recognize and motivate the academic excellence that is the hallmark of LHS.
Why rush to abolish the weighted GPA? Once it is gone it will be difficult if not impossible to get it back. Faculty, staff, students, parents and the School Committee should consider carefully what eliminating the weighted GPA really means in terms of college admissions, recognition of academic excellence, and the potentially negative, unintended consequences on the overall academic program at LHS. In addition we should all look carefully at the poll results, talk to more college admissions representatives and involve more parents, especially from the elementary and middle schools.
Adam Seitchik lives in Lexington and his children attend the Lexington public schools. He can be reached at aseitchik@rcn.com