Uniform grading scale moving through Legislature
A uniform grading scale for high school students throughout the state became an issue after implementation of the Tennessee lottery, which is being used to fund college scholarships to those who meet specific requirements. But a system that would define what each letter grade represents for every high school in the state may be not be easy to achieve.
State education officials acknowledge a uniform scale seems sensible. Grades must be submitted to the Tennessee Student Assistance Corp., which determines if students are eligible for state-sponsored scholarships, including those funded by the lottery.
“We do see the need,” said Bruce Opie, legislative liaison for the Education Department. State education officials have not taken an official position on creating a uniform scale.
Daniel Doyle, a sophomore at Wayne County High school, said grades should be the same in every school district. He believes it’s unfair that students in some districts can score as low as an 80 and receive a B while he must get at least an 85 for the same letter grade.
“It should be the same everywhere across the state,” said Daniel, 16, who hopes to land state-sponsored scholarships to help pay for college. “It certainly puts some students at a disadvantage when you have different scales across the state.”
Lottery-funded HOPE scholarships require students to have a 3.0 grade point average or a score of at least 19 on the ACT to be eligible for assistance of up to $4,000 a year. On a normal scale, a 3.0 grade point average equal a B, with an A accounting for 4 points. A student gets 2 points for a C and 1 point for a D.
Currently, 40 of the state’s 110 public systems that operate high schools use a numerical score of 95-100 percent for an A, while 28 use a 94-100, 33 use 93-100, three use 92-100 and six use 90-100. In Nashville alone, the numerical equivalent of an A varies among individual schools from 90-100 to 95-100.
For a B letter grade, there are 16 variations of its numerical equivalent among the systems, data from the Tennessee School Board Association show. The most common range for a B is 85-92, a TSBA survey showed.
If the Legislature approves the grading scale proposal, the job of creating a statewide scale would go to the state Board of Education.
Some educators are concerned setting one scale would take away local choice and could lower standards in districts that require students to score higher to receive an A or B.
“They can set a standard but there are so many schools across the state, including ours, that have set higher standards,” said Coy Anderson, principal of the 360-student Wayne County High, where students must score between 85-94 to get a B. “It’s not going to work. I don’t think they can enforce it.”
He said the Legislature should have looked at correcting the grading scale before deciding students needed a B average, among other requirements, to get a lottery-funded scholarship.
“They knew this going in, that there were all these different scales. They didn’t do their homework,” he said. “If they give us some leeway to set our own standards a little higher, we would.”
Wilson Central High School Principal Larry Kernagis worries that lowering the scale would send the wrong message to students. His school requires students to make an 85-92 to get a B.
“It says we really didn’t mean it. The state doesn’t expect you to go as high as we do,” he said.
Ryan Hudson, a junior at Wilson Central, agreed.
“It would lower the standards,” said Ryan, 17. “The grades are mostly what I strive for. If the grade is easier to achieve, you wouldn’t work as hard.”
Applications to TSAC for financial aid have more than doubled so far from last year, officials said, with nearly 65,000 students seeking aid compared to less than 27,000 a year ago. About 8,000 students have met the initial eligibility requirements to receive HOPE scholarships.
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On the Net:
Tennessee Student Assistance Corp.: http://www.state.tn.us/tsac/
Tennessee General Assembly: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us