The Great Weight Debate....

Despite the title, this post is not about the fact that I could afford to lose a few pounds, but rather its about that perennial issue that seems to surface around this time each year - why doesn't Chatham High School employ a weighted grading system to award a higher grade point average for honors and advanced placement classes? What follows is an abreviated version of my thoughts on the issue.

A few years prior to my assuming the principalship of our school, my predecessor, Ann Ashworth, created a fairly representative committee made up of parents, students, teachers, and the current guidance counselor at the time, Mary Beth Sacramone. This committee spent the better part of a year and a half researching, studying, and debating such thorny issues as weighted grades and class rank. At the conclusion of their study they voted on several issues and the result of their work was presented and approved by the school committee and a new graduation policy was adopted. Most significantly, they decided that our school would not weight course grades nor would they continue to rank students and provide those statistics to colleges or anyone else for that matter. Instead, the committee created our current Rigorous Course of Study which is widely recognized by college admissions as a clear indication of the academic capabilities and motivation of our graduates who pursue and achieve this honorable distinction. They also created a Grade Distribution Chart which is generated for each student and included in the student's application packet. This chart includes the student's grade point average and illustrates within certain GPA ranges, where the student stands in relation to his or her peers.

Interestingly, the rationale for not weighting grades back in 1997 is still valid today. At the time, they felt that students at CHS who take honors or A P courses are clearly recognized on our school profile and the transcript, and the Rigorous Course of Study certainly allows high achieving students to stand out among their peers. That is still true today. Furthermore, those same students always have their talents and strengths highlighted in teacher/counselor recommendations to college admissions because the size and decidedly personal nature of our school allows and, in fact, encourages that to occur. They also addressed the oft-repeated concern that a student could "coast" through college prep classes with all A's and end up with a higher standing than a peer who had taken a more challenging academic path to graduation. Their research, and my experience over the past ten years has showed that this just doesn't happen. Moreover, no student can even be considered for the two top positions in the class without having attained the Rigorous Course of Study designation.

One of the most important findings of their research was that students who graduate from a school which does not weight grades or rank its students are not at any disadvantage when they apply to college because the first thing college admissions officers do is automatically unweight transcripts and use their own simple system to level the playing field. In fact, one might even argue that CHS students have a bit of an advantage because admissions officers recognize what the attainment of a Rigorous Course of Study diploma means for those who apply and that might give our students a competitive edge in the admissions game. Based on what they heard then and what we still hear from college admissions directors today is that there is no advantage for students in schools where grades are weighted.

So if there is no real advantage to inflating GPAs with weighted grades, why would any school want to do it when it does pose some real disadvantages. The most serious consequence is that a weighted grading system puts additional pressure on high achieving students to take as many honors and A P courses as possible. That in itself is not a bad thing, however what often happens is that students do everything to avoid courses which are not weighted because they feel that even if they get a A in a CP course it will, in effect, lower their GPA. So, what occurs is a high pressured race to achieve the highest GPA rather than pursue a well-rounded academic career over four years. Examples abound of a student interested in becoming an engineer eschewing a valuable career oriented CADD class because, as a CP class, it is unweighted. Or a high achieving student interested in a career in environmental science not taking an environmental studies class because it, too, is not weighted and that would contribute to a marginally lower GPA. I am convinced that weighting grades at CHS would have a detrimental effect on our wonderfully diverse selection of elective course offerings and add undue stress on our students who, by the time they are Juniors, are already under considerable pressure to excel.

Lastly, I had a wonderful conversation with Ms. Sacramone the other day. She is now the Director of Guidance at Wayland High School where she reports they are seriously working toward eliminating weighted grades, as are many of the other schools in that highly competitive educational environment west of Boston. Less than four years ago Lexington High School scrapped its weighted grading system for all of the reasons I have mentioned above. So, it turns out that Chatham High School was significantly ahead of the curve over a decade ago in doing what was right for our students even if it wasn't popular. I have to say it feels pretty good to have a number of very respected schools now apparently following our lead. Why, with what we know and the way the trend is moving, would we now want to reverse what we have accomplished?

Well, perhaps I will skip lunch today and take a long walk in an effort to shed a pound or two. As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.