Frequently Asked Questions on the 10-Point Grading Scale
On Tuesday, April 12, 2016, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a 10-point grading scale for all high school courses in South Carolina. This change will have a positive impact on students across the state, leveling the playing field for them as they compete for academic and athletic awards and scholarships. Additionally, this change will enable students to have a seamless transition into technical colleges or universities in South Carolina and nationally, as colleges and universities generally use the 10-point grading scale.
Resources
Memorandums
Implementation of a 10-point grading scale
PowerSchool Upgrade for Uniform Grading Scale - Memo
Press Release – 10-Point Uniform Grading Scale Approved by State Board of Education
Chart – 10-Point Grading Scale
Power Point Presentations:
April 12, 2016 State Board of Education SBE
May 2, 2016 Statewide Faculty Meeting
May 23, 2016 School Counselors
Superintendent Spearman Oped – Commentary: 10-Point Scale a Step Forward - The Greenville News
Statewide Faculty Virtual Meeting - Webinar Video
Update from Superintendent Spearman (8/25/2016)
Frequently Asked Questions
1) Why did the State Board of Education vote to adopt a 10-point grading school?
The South Carolina Department of Education recommended the state’s transition from a 7-point to 10-point grading scale. Many months of stakeholder input and research went into this recommendation. We convened four working groups to examine the uniform grading policy. Members included parents, teachers, district superintendents, college professors, and the business community. Three working groups continue to meet and research the impact this change will have on lottery funds and college scholarships.
2) Did you make this change to benefit student-athletes?
No. It was made reviewing the impact for all students across the state. Student athletes will benefit competing for college scholarships because their GPAs can be compared to other athletes in states using the 10-point scale, such as Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia. We are a military state, with one of the highest military student populations in the country. As thousands of military families move in and out of South Carolina every year, they will benefit from a seamless transition using a 10-point grading scale. Additionally, many South Carolina students are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to competing with their peers in other states for academic scholarships and awards; this decision creates an equal playing field for them.
3) When will this change take place?
This change will take place beginning in the 2016-17 school year and move forward from there. It will cover all high school courses, meaning high school students will be graded on a 10-point scale and middle school students taking high school courses will also be graded on the 10-point scale just for those courses.
4) Is this new grading scale retroactive?
No, the new grading scale is not retroactive. It goes into effect for the 2016-17 school year and only impacts a student’s GPA on courses taken after 2016-17. We will not go back in time and adjust GPAs before the 2016-17 school year.
5) Why can’t this change be retroactive?
We were unable to make the change in grading scales retroactive without changing the class rank of students. Since prior class rankings have an impact on scholarship opportunities, it is not possible to make the grading scale retroactive.
6) Does this new change apply to students in elementary and middle schools as well?
No. This change is only for students taking high school courses. Districts can choose to have their elementary and middle school students remain on the 7-point scale or they can have the local school board adopt a 10-point scale. This is a local decision that should be made with input from the school district, school board members, parents, and teachers. Should a community decide that they want to adopt a 10-point scale for elementary and middle school grades, they must wait until the statewide adoption of the 10-point scale is complete, which we anticipate taking place this summer.
Although districts have the option of implementing a different grade point scale in these grades, they do NOT have the option of using any scale other than the 10-point scale for high school courses taken in middle school that receive a Carnegie unit. In this case, all districts must use the 10-point scale.
All grades (including summer school courses) taken prior to August 15, 2016 or prior to your district’s first day of school in the 2016-17 school year, will be on the old 7-point scale.
7) How will GPAs be affected by this change in grading?
GPAs are an outcome of the quality points associated with each numeric grade a student earns related to the class he or she took. If you look at the old GPA 7-point scale and compare it to the new 10-point scale, you will see that the new scale helps student GPAs in the following ways:
- creates the floor for a “passing grade” at 60 (D) rather than 70. The floor for a “C” is 70; “B” is 80; and “A” is 90. This aligns to the college scale which helps with dual credit courses taken in high school.
- continues to award weighted points for taking harder courses such as honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and dual credit courses.
- provides increasing quality points by .10 for each numeric grade.
Overall, this 10-point scale aligns South Carolina with all the states around us and provides an equal playing field for our students to compete for admissions into college and in-state scholarships such as HOPE, LIFE, and Palmetto Fellows. It is especially helpful to our military families who move a great deal and come into South Carolina from states where 10-point scales are used.
8) How will teachers be trained on this new grading scale?
The South Carolina Department of Education has a robust plan to disseminate information to schools and specifically to teachers. On Monday, May 2, we conducted a statewide faculty virtual meeting for all South Carolina teachers and recorded the webinar for future viewing. Additionally, we are offering training to District Instructional Leaders, Guidance Counselors, Career and Technology Directors, Testing and Accountability Coordinators, and Special Education Directors through their monthly statewide meetings or at upcoming meetings/conferences so that these leaders may take the training information back to their districts.
9) How will this change affect students already in high school?
As of August 15, 2016, all GPAs earned under the previous 7-point scale will be locked down. Depending on where a student is in high school, they will spend one, two, three, or four years under the new 10-point scale. For example, a rising senior will have one year under the 10-point scale and three with the 7-point scale; a rising junior will have two years under each; a rising sophomore will have three years under the 10-point scale and one using the 7-point scale; and an incoming freshman will have all four years in their transcript with the 10-point scale. This process will be fair to students because student class rank is only calculated for students within a particular grade. Seniors are only ranked compared to other seniors; juniors are ranked compared to other juniors, etc.
10) How will grades earned under each point scale be calculated?
A student’s final transcript will average all the quality points and divide that by the number of credits attempted. Therefore, 13 credits on the 7-point scale will be averaged with the credits and quality points earned on the 10-point scale.
11) I would like information about the grading scale for End of Course exams in SC this year; will the grading scale be updated to reflect the 10-point grading scale, or will the scores still be calculated as 0-69 equals failing?
South Carolina is changing the state Uniform Grading Policy to a 10-point per letter grade scale. That is, a ‘D’ will range from 60-69, a ‘C’ from 70-79, etc. This change will apply to EOCEP tests. However, it will not make the tests any easier.
For the Biology and for the United States History and the Constitution tests, scale scores will be adjusted so that the same level of achievement will still be necessary to reach a minimum ‘D’ score; however, that level of achievement will now be awarded 60, rather than 70, points. Other scores will be adjusted accordingly. This change is necessary to maintain the requirement that EOCEP scores make up 20% of students’ final grades. As a consequence, even if overall levels of achievement do not change, average EOCEP scale scores will decline, strictly as an artifact of the change in scale. Average scale scores for 2016-17 will not be directly comparable with average scores from previous years.
Because changes to the underlying content standards have caused revisions to the English I and Algebra I tests, SCDE is re-establishing achievement standards for those tests from first principles. This summer (2016), SCDE brought together committees of South Carolina educators to recommend achievement standards for the English and Algebra tests. Scores for these tests will also be reported on the new grading scale. However, the effects that the new achievement standards will have on average scale scores and the proportions of students receiving each letter grade are as yet unknown.
