New Covenant School of Rhetoric
Report on Grading Scale, Grade Point
Average and College Admissions
By converting to a ten-point grading scale and synchronizing the GPA reporting system,
New Covenant will further support its graduates in college opportunities and reduce
confusion concerning GPA calculation.
Explanation of GPA Relationship to College Admissions and Scholarships
Many Colleges and Universities pride themselves in evaluating candidates in a holistic and
qualitative way that does not give inordinate value to GPA. New Covenant is already
committed to providing an exceptional Christian education in the classical and liberal arts
tradition, thereby equipping our students with the intellectual precision and depth to
qualify for admittance and scholarships to such institutions and, more importantly, to
succeed in all of life. Our School of Rhetoric Mission Statement:
New Covenant School of Rhetoric, by the light of Christ and the
power of the classical tradition, endeavors to form young men
and women of intellectual and moral virtue, equipping them to
live bravely for truth, goodness and beauty.
Many of our graduates receive significant academic scholarships because of their high SAT
scores and qualitatively demonstrated academic superiority. In the past 22 years of
operation, New Covenant graduates have garnered more than $5 million in academic
scholarships. We recognize that all colleges use the GPA as an initial or final mechanism to
determine eligibility for admissions and scholarships. Colleges and Universities distribute
some academic scholarships solely on the basis of SAT and GPA. In other words, although
there are a host of factors in determining admissions and scholarships, in no situation is the
GPA unimportant. Consider the following academic scholarship matrix from Liberty
University:
ACT
SAT
3.8-4.0
3.30-3.79
2.7-3.29
20-22
9301040
$2,250
$1,500
$1,000
23-25
10501150
$2,750
$2,250
$1,500
26-28
11601260
$4,000
$2,750
$2,250
29-31
12701380
$5,500
$5,000
$2,750
32-34
13901560
$6,500
$5,500
$4,000
35-36
1570-1600
Full Tuition
$6,500
$5,500
The majority of colleges in Virginia have a GPA minimum for admission, usually 2.5 or higher.
For example, Auburn University in Alabama has an initial GPA minimum of 3.0, as computed
by the reporting high school. Of course that number is elevated for honors programs. As
shown above, the Liberty University Honors Program requires a high school GPA of 3.50.
The Virginia Tech Honors Program requires a high school GPA of 3.8. These are high
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standards, as they ought to be. However, they are becoming more and more accessible
because grade inflation is widespread in high schools and colleges across the nation.
Stuart Rojztaczer (former Duke geophysics professor) and Christopher Healy (computer
science professor at Furman) have researched this phenomenon and published the results in
a paper entitled “Where A Is Ordinary: The Evolution of College and University Grading,
1940-2009.” Rojztaczer and Healy found enough data to substantiate what many of us
already sense vaguely. For example, in 1986 the average GPA for the graduating class of
William and Mary was 2.86; in 1996 it was 3.03; in 2005 it was 3.23. The average GPA at
Rutgers in 1968 was 2.60; in 1998 it was 2.93; in 2006 it was 3.01. Consider the following
graph that demonstrates a steady increase in the numbers of As awarded in colleges:
Grade Distribution at American Colleges from 1940 to 2008
Rojztaczer and Healy summarized the situation: “Contemporary data indicate that, on
average across a wide range of schools, A’s represent 43% of all letter grades, an increase of
28 percentage points since 1960 and 12 percentage points since 1988. D’s and F’s total
typically less than 10% of all letter grades.” According to Rojztaczer, education is taking an
increasingly “consumer-based approach” wherein the “students are no longer acolytes
trying to gain knowledge but instead are customers in search of degrees.” In such a climate
professors have “both external and internal incentives …to grade more generously.”
Colleges and Universities are handing out more As and are thus creating an academic
environment in which we all (including teachers and parents of high school students) expect
to see more As, both in college and high school—and high schools are complying. College
Admissions officers are, therefore, much more accustomed to seeing higher GPAs in their
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applicant pools. In other words, our graduates are often attempting to gain admission to
institutions already accustomed to operating in a system glutted with As (43%).
More to the point of high school GPA, the ACT Board conducted a study of high school
students, comparing ACT scores to GPA averages in 1991 and 2003. The study concluded
that grade inflation is in fact occurring. The study found that “during the 13-year period
under study, high school GPA for ACT-tested public high school graduates increased by
about 6.25 percent—without an accompanying increase in the ACT Composite score.” The
ACT study findings also comport with the Rojztaczer and Healy report in terms of the
relative number of letter grades awarded to high school students. The study found that only
5 percent of public high school students have a GPA of less than 2.0, suggesting that “the
practical range of high school grades is really from C (2.0) to A (4.0).” In other words in the
current educational climate, a D is rare, while an F is hardly possible.
While the percentage of As has increased, so has the percentage of the US populace that
pursues higher education. Before the Second World War, it was quite normal for many
adults--some of them our own grandparent and great grandparents--to have only an 8th
grade education, or less. In fact, in 1940, 80% of adults had less than twelve years of
schooling. Today, however, over 60% have at least twelve years of schooling. A host of
factors have created this change. For example, in 1946, President Truman established the
Commission on Higher Education. The commission reported that college could no longer be
for the intellectual elite, but rather “the means by which every citizen, youth, and adult is
enabled and encouraged to carry his education, formal and informal, as far as his native
capacities permit.” This sentiment encapsulates the spirit of the age; college enrollment
has continued to climb, being viewed as necessary vocational training.
In 1920, less than half a million students (0.47% of the population) were enrolled in
institutions of higher education; by 1940, that number was 1.5 million (1.14% of population); in
1950, 2.7 million (1.78% of the population); in 1959, 3.2 million (1.79% of the population); in
1970 8.6 million (4.23% of the population); in 1980, 12.1 million (5.35% of the population); in
1990, 13.8 million (5.56% of the population); in 2000, 15.3 million (5.44% of the population);
today, that number is over 20 million; (6.49% of the population). More to the point of our
graduates, in 1940, only 16% of all high school graduates enrolled in college. Today, that
percentage is over 70%, although enrollment fell 2% (not % of the total population, but % of
the current rate of enrollment) in 2012.
T.S. Eliot asserted that, “…the ideal of an uniform system [of education] such that no one
capable of receiving higher education could fail to get it, leads imperceptibly to the
education of too many people and consequently the lowering of standards to whatever this
swollen number of candidates is able to reach.” Grade inflation, at the high school and
college level, has proven him a true prophet.
Grade inflation occurs through a number of mechanisms, such as easier grading practices,
extra credit, etc. One element that certainly increases the number of As is the ten-point
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scale. It is estimated that 40% of high schools in Virginia use a ten-point scale, including the
following: E.C. Glass, Heritage, Bedford County, Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Orange
County, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Loudon County, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Veritas in
Richmond, The Covenant School in Charlottesville, Liberty Christian Academy and more.
Most of these schools have only recently made the change to a ten-point scale (Lynchburg
City-2012; Newport News- this fall). Even where the ten-point scale is not used, the need for
uniformity is recognized: at least two states, South Carolina and Florida, have implemented a
state-wide uniform grading scale.
How do college admissions offices evaluate high school GPAs derived from a variety of
different scales? In other words, how are variant scales harmonized in order to make
meaningful comparisons between applicants? Some college admissions officers report that
they convert GPAs to a ten-point scale when dealing with non-ten-point scale high schools
like New Covenant. Because such conversions are time consuming, other colleges affirm
that the prevailing practice is simply to use the grading scale that the reporting high school
uses. It would therefore not be surprising to learn that an admissions office, that is alleged
to convert GPAs, in fact does not. The following explanation of GPA calculation
demonstrates the GPA disparities that result in different scales and that may or may not be
noted by a college admission officer.
Explanation of the Grade Point Average System
A school’s grading scale significantly affects student GPA. In most grading scales today, a
letter grade is assigned a point value. However, two elements in grade point average
system can be altered to create a wide variety of results:
o What percentage range is awarded an A, B, C, etc.;
o Graduated point values within a single letter grade range.
By way of example, the following tables show New Covenant’s previous grading scale,
alongside a typical 10-point, graduated scale:
Current New Covenant
Grade
Letter Point
Range
Grade Value
94-100
A
4.0
87-93
B
3.0
78-86
C
2.0
70-77
D
1.0
< 70
Fail
0.0
Typical 10 – Point Scale
Grade
Letter
Point
Range
Grade
Value
94-100
A
4.0
90-93
A3.7
87-89
B+
3.3
83-86
B
3.0
80-82
B2.7
77-79
C+
2.3
73-76
C
2.0
70-72
C1.5
< 70
Fail
0.0
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To calculate the grade point average, these numbers are added and then divided by the
number of courses taken. By way of example, we will consider a student with four courses in
which they earn a range of scores. In the table below, the third and fourth columns provide
the letter grade and associated grade points under New Covenant’s previous system. The
fifth and sixth columns provide the same information under a typical 10-point system.
Course
1
2
3
4
Percentage
Score
95
91
86
78
Letter Grade
Grade Point
(7- pt system)
(7-pt system)
A
4
B
3
C
2
C
2
Current Total Grade Points: 11.0
Current Grade Point Average: 2.75
Letter Grade
Grade Point
(10-pt system)
(10-pt system)
A
4
A3.7
B
3
C+
2.3
New Total Grade Points: 13.0
New Grade Point Average: 3.25
A cursory glance at the table reveals two things: 1) a ten point scale advantages more
students by widen the latitude for As, Bs, etc., 2) a ten point scale that is graduated further
advantages students by differentiating between, say, an A and an A-, through a more finely
tuned system of grade points.
GPA History at New Covenant
At this point in our report, it is necessary to pause in our discussion of the ten-point scale in
order to consider a related matter. New Covenant currently uses two different reporting
procedures for GPA. The GPA that appears on our School of Rhetoric grade reports at the
end of each quarter (GPA does not appear on the progress reports) are un-weighted. This
means that it is tabulated on a 4.0 scale that does not recognize an added .5 of a point for
honors courses and an extra 1.0 point for AP courses. However, the transcripts that are sent
to colleges are weighted; they do tabulate on a scale that recognizes an added .5 of a point
for honors courses and an extra 1.0 point for AP courses.
Until 2005 New Covenant used only the un-weighted GPA for both report cards and
transcripts. This practice was logical in the days when most high schools and colleges
operated on a strict 4.0 system. However, as many institutions began using a weighted
system, wherein 4.5 or 5.0 was the maximum, New Covenant adapted to this system on our
transcripts, while retaining the more traditional 4.0 un-weighted system on our report cards,
fearing students might develop a false sense of accomplishment by seeing the weighted
GPA that can exceed 4.0. This has obviously created confusion, as it would be natural to
assume that the report card GPA is identical to the transcript GPA. It has also created
unnecessary concern on the part of parents and students who are legitimately concerned
that their GPA be optimized. By showing weighted GPA on our grade reports, as we do on
our transcripts, New Covenant will align its internal and external GPA reporting, acquainting
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parents and students with the GPA scale that is used for college admissions and reassuring
them that high performance at New Covenant translates to high GPAs.
Summary
In contrast with the current climate of grade inflation, New Covenant continues to provide a
challenging and thoroughly Christian education in a classical and liberal arts tradition. Our
graduates’ test scores, college admissions record, college academic experience and life
success are blessings for which we thank God. While continuing our endeavor of classical
Christian education, we are encountering a college admissions environment that is
increasingly competitive— and expensive. Nevertheless, our academic passion has
continually placed our graduates in situations of extreme advantage. Our commitment to
this authentic education remains central to our identity.
While maintaining these standards, we also wish to be flexible to reality, wherever this can
be done without the sacrifice of our central values. The ten-point grading scale and
synchronizing our internal and external GPA reporting are two such instances. This is for
two reasons: internal realities and external appearances. The reality within the walls of New
Covenant is that our courses are taught and administered with the highest standards.
Teachers grade carefully and thoroughly. While As are not rare; neither are they
commonplace. Last year the average percentage in all academic courses in the School of
Rhetoric was 89%, which is a mid-range B (3.0) under the former scenario. We believe that
this 89% is obtained with more difficulty here at NCS than at most other high schools. We
intend to keep it that way. This accrues to our students’ intellectual and moral advantage.
However, the external appearance of the situation is not to their advantage, since an 89% at
another school could be more easily attained and more handsomely rewarded: while the
89% still translates to a B under the proposed ten-point scale, it would be worth not 3.0 but
3.3 un-weighted grade points or 3.8 weighted grade points. This is just one of a myriad of
examples to show that recalibrating to a ten-point scale would eliminate the inequities of
appearance.
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Recommendation
Reporting on a ten-point scale and synchronizing our internal and external GPA reporting
are two clear means of ensuring accurate academic comparisons. We recommend
recalibration as a way of further augmenting New Covenant graduates’ capacity to access as
wide a range as possible of post-secondary options. We also recommend a synchronization
of the internal and external reporting. The proposed ten-point graduated grading scale is as
follows:
%
Letter
94-100
90-93
87-89
83-86
80-82
77-79
73-76
70-72
67-69
65-67
60-64
59 and
below
A, A+
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
Grade Points Weighted
Honors
4.5
4.2
3.8
3.5
3.2
2.8
2.5
2.0
1.8
1.5
1.2
0.0
This scale will be applied for the academic year 2013-14. The report card and transcripts will
show a weighted GPA tabulated on the ten-point graduated scale.
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