I don’t have
enough time here to explain the current Fairfield Community High School grading
system which includes adding points to student’s grade point average. The
system is under review. It should be. At one of the most recent graduation
ceremonies, I counted over half the class as honor students. The school’s state
report card would suggest otherwise.
There are
some FCHS grads who possess a 7.0 grade point average in a four-point system.
The calculation must be done by hand. It’s that complex. Superintendent Jill
Fulkerson says it is uniquely FCHS. No other area schools have anything like
it.
She has
presented a preliminary proposed solution to the board of education for
incoming classes. The recommendations will rid the school of “additive” grade
points which inflate the student’s grade point average. Under the proposal,
some honor classes will still be weighted, but the new system won’t be as
confusing as it is now.
There’s a
bigger problem here, and the superintendent knows it. Her grads could have a
20-point GPA on a four-point scale…..but if they don’t perform on the college
entrance exams as well or better than the average Illinois high school, they
are not succeeding.
The bottom
line is….classes must become more demanding.
Fairfield Community High School students have to do better on the ACT
and the SAT than they are doing now.
Any plan
that doesn’t lay out a more demanding curriculum with greater class rigor will
not hit the mark.
No comments:
Post a Comment