Raising the scale with MacKenzie Harris
February 8, 2023
On the week of Dec. 8, MacKenzie Harris gave THS students the good news of the implementation of a 10-point grading scale for the upcoming school year. Since Harris received her position of the THS Student Representative for the Pittsylvania County School Board last fall; she has vocalized her opinion on her school’s grading system.
Harris believed it was unfair that students attending Piedmont’s Governor’s School and the Academy of Engineering and Technology receive a 10-point grading scale while students taking some of the same exact classes at THS were graded only on a seven point grading scale.
In Pittsylvania County the current grading scale goes as follows: 94-100 is an A, 86-93 is a B, 78-85 is a C, a 70-77 is a D, and anything 69 and below is an F.
Harris prepared herself for the School Board meeting by doing a lot of groundwork on the topic. “I did a lot of research on the 10-point grading scale because they had mentioned putting it in a meeting beforehand. All the surrounding counties, well-known high schools, and many Virginia colleges have a 10-point grade scale, and I felt it would better prepare students at Tunstall for their future environment,” Harris said.
The Pittsylvania County School Board is also considering integrating a plus and minus grading scale next year. “The School Board contacted me about adding a plus or minus to our letter grading, but I’m against it. I feel like the new 10-point grading system is good enough. Colleges only care about the letter grade.”
In addition to the grading scale change, Pittsylvania County will have a nine week grading session with progress reports being given out at four and a half weeks.
Harris is against this change. “I would definitely keep the six weeks grading period rather than the new nine week period. I feel like that’s too much of a long period of time, and there are issues that could correspond with that,” Harris said.
Harris did this work for future students, but will not benefit from it herself. “I am very pleased the grading scale change got accepted; however, it upsets me that I’ve wanted it all of high school and it will only be implemented after I graduate.”
KSE • Feb 15, 2023 at 7:51 pm
“Same exact classes”. Nope. College level classes follow a collegiate syllabus. Governor’s School classes are collegiate classes. Students who desire collegiate credit for classes should apply for admission to Governor’s School or AET.
adviser • Feb 16, 2023 at 12:36 pm
To clarify, the article states “some of the same exact classes.” Both students at the base school and students at Gov. School and AET take ENG 111-112 and ENG 245-255. Students off-campus currently use a 10-point grade scale and base school students use the 94-100/A scale.