Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When will the changes go into effect?
A: Fall 2020.
Q: Who will this effect?
A: The grade scale will apply to all incoming 7th-12th graders. The application of GPA will remain in the high school only.
Q: Will changes apply to current seniors?
A: No changes for Class of 2020.
Q: Why not gradually apply changes?
A: We believe our current practice may actually penalize our students.
Q: How will Colleges know of changes?
A: Annually Colleges receive Kingsway’s “School Profile,” highlighting and explaining grading scale, GPA scale and class rank policies.
Q: Why use “plus” and “minus” in grade scale?
A: Further identifies the level of student work/achievement in a specific course.
Q: Will there be a valedictorian?
A: There will not be a valedictorian beginning with the Class of 2021.
Q: Who will speak at graduation?
A: Selected among interested student(s).
Q: When will students receive their GPA?
A: Rising seniors will receive their GPA in August in order to begin completing college applications.
Q: Why weight Honors and AP classes differently?
A: A weighting of 0.5 for Honors course and a 1.0 for Advanced Placement courses will be used and aligns with other high-performing schools and is believed to more accurately reflect academic rigor and course difficulty.
Q: What about NJ STARS Program?
A: Our students will continue to be eligible for and benefit from the NJ STARS Program.
Q: How will these changes impact local Kingsway-based scholarships?
A: For the few that do, administration will adjust criteria and/or gain approval from scholarship sponsors to adjust criteria that does not require Class Rank.
Q: What will parents see on PowerSchool reports?
A: Both the letter grade and corresponding numerical value on the Quick Lookup screen and on the online report card. (A-, 91)
Q: Will implementation of a 10-Point Grading Scale change Teacher Recommendations for honors or AP classes?
A: Administration will revisit; however, 3 years of data demonstrates current recommendation system is successful.
Q: Will we adjust the basement grade of 50?
A: Yes. Moving the passing grade to a 60 will require adjusting the ‘basement grade’ to a 45.
Q: You may get pushback from current seniors who fail due to a 64 knowing that this grade will change in September.
A: This is to be expected. However, the changes will go into effect on September 2, 2020, long after the current seniors are scheduled to graduate. Therefore, this will be a irrelevant argument as they will be governed by the policies and practice in place during the 2019-20 school year.
Q: Will we adjust the Reassessment from a 83 (B) to a 80 (B-)?
A: No. We intend to stay with the 83 (B) as the cutoff.
Q: Will these changes have a negative impact on AP enrollment?
A: We may see students who only used AP to climb the rank ladder, create a more balanced schedule and opt for courses of interest next year. However, that could be offset by those who shied away from AP courses because they are GPA sensitive. Given the new grade scale and weighting, enrollment may stay steady or increase.
Q: How will you ‘weight’ AP Courses?
A: AP Courses will be graded on a weighted scale that goes up to 5.0. On the traditional scale a 4.0 is an A and a 3.0 is a B. On the AP weighted grading scale, a 5.0 is an A, 4.0 a B and etc.
Q: How will administration retroactively adjust historic grades?
A: Once grades close in late June, we will begin the process of identifying those historical Y1 grades that fall within the 60-64 range and begin to award credit. This process will be completed by late August.
Q: Why do you have to adjust historical grades at all?
A: The new method in which GPA will be calculated requires Y1 grades that fall within the range of 60-64 to be awarded credit. We cannot calculate a student’s GPA on a 5.0 scale with two different grade scales present in their historical grades.