'A' grades indeed up after JCPS changes scale

Jefferson County Public Schools' new grading scale appears to have had its intended effect: the number of students getting A's in classes has gone up this year, according to data provided by JCPS from the first grading period.

An analysis of middle and high schoolers' report cards after the first grading period of the year showed that, across content areas and school levels, the number of "A" grades rose, while the number of "C's" fell.

On average, the percentage of "A's" rose about 6 or 7 percentage points, depending on the subject, while the number of "C's" fell a corresponding 6 or 7 percentage points, the data shows.

JCPS said the better grades are a reflection of changes made to the district's grading system.

Over the summer, the Jefferson County Board of Education approved a plan to change how schools grade students, saying the change would help provide a more even playing field for students compared with those in other school districts around the country.

Until this year, a 93 to 100 percent in a class would earn a student a coveted "A" grade. The change expanded that category to 90 to 100 percent, making it theoretically easier to get the highest mark.

The chance to earn a "B" grade also rose, with the scale being changed to 80-89 percent instead of 86-92 percent.

A "C" now equals 75-79 percent (instead of 79-85 percent) and a "D" moved from 70-78 percent to 70-74 percent. The score for "U," or below standards, remained as anything below 70 percent.

The biggest rationale behind the change was that it would help students score higher GPAs and be more competitive in college applications and for scholarships like the merit-based Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarships.

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The KEES program gives money to high school students for every year they earn a 2.5 GPA or higher, with more money given for higher grade point averages.

Dena Dossett, who is now JCPS' chief of data management, said she expects to see the same trend of higher number of "A" grades throughout the rest of the school year. She said the district hasn't done any projections of how much more KEES money JCPS students could earn, but said she does expect to see more scholarship money coming students' ways this year because of the change.

Of course, the grading distribution looks different in different schools and by subject area.

Some schools saw more dramatic upticks in grades than the district average, while in a few schools the percentages of A's actually fell somewhat compared with the first grading period a year ago. Some of that could be because of a teacher's grading philosophy, a changing population at a school, or even a new class or a new teacher teaching a class.

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JCPS is not the first school district to change its grading scale in recent years. For instance, Bullitt County Public Schools in 2013 opted to change to a 10-point grading scale after years of having the cutoff for an A at 92 percent, citing similar reasons as JCPS.

Carl Rollins, the executive director of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, which oversees the KEES program, said his organization has not typically seen much of a change in KEES money after a school district changes its grading scale.

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"Grades are very subjective anyway," Rollins said, adding that teachers know what should count as A-graded work and end up adjusting their grading accordingly. He said that within a year or two, school districts who change their grading scale tend to see similar grade distributions as before.

"They think they're gaming the system but it's not really," Rollins said. "After a couple years, it's about the same number of A's and B's. ... It kind of works its way out."

Reporter Allison Ross can be reached at (502) 582-4241. Follow the Courier-Journal's education team on Facebook at Facebook.com/SchooledCJ.