Policy would lift cap off GPA

By Frances Vanderploeg

Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 | midnight

Henderson high schools have often had as many as 20 valedictorians eligible to speak at the graduation ceremony, but state education officials are working on a change that could dramatically reduce that number.

Under orders from the 2007 Legislature to come up with a statewide grading system, the Nevada Department of Education has written a plan that adapts the Clark County School District's weighted grade point averages. That allows extra points on a four-point scale for Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and honors classes.

However, the state system would eliminate Clark County's maximum for the weighted grade point average. Currently, Southern Nevada students top out at 4.8, no matter how many of the more challenging classes they take.

The state also would give the extra points for AP and IB courses only if students take the national test that would qualify them for college credit. Advanced Placement courses can earn students college credits if they pass the tests. The International Baccalaureate program provides a diploma that is recognized worldwide for its quality.

Many Clark County students take the courses but do not take the tests, which cost $84 per subject.

Currently, with the maximum 4.8 weighted grade point average, when schools have several students who reach the limit, they end up with numerous valedictorians.

If the cap is lifted, that would allow students who take several Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes to pull ahead of those who take only enough to reach the maximum, Bob Smyth, counselor at Coronado High School, which had 18 valedictorians last year.

"There is usually a best student or best two students in a class," Smyth said. "People hate coming to graduation to hear 20 students talk."

Green Valley and Boulder City high schools had 10 valedictorians last year, and Basic and Foothill high schools had five each.

Most top students know that it takes four semesters of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes and 14 semesters of honors classes to hit that mark, he said.

Education officials had thought the new grading system would be in place by 2012, but the state's education officials were sent back to the drawing board with the proposal by the Legislative Commission, which got a look at it Sept. 17.

The proposal was initially rejected June 16 because students could get and receive points for only grades A, B, C, D and F. There was no possibility of receiving partial credit for a B+ or C-, for example. Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said it was rejected the second time for similar concerns.

Now the proposal has been pushed back at least a year, State Schools Superintendent Keith Rheault said. The department did not recommend a plus- or minus-grade system, because 16 of the state's 17 county school districts opposed it, he said.

However, Malkiewich said, that was a sticking point for the Legislative Commission.

Rheault said he would ask the Legislature to revisit the topic next year.

One of the reasons the Legislature wanted a statewide grading system was the Millennium Scholarship, Kim Boyle, director of guidance and counseling for the Clark County School District, said. The scholarship requires students to have a minimum of 3.25 grade point average, weighted or unweighted.

Different grading policies may provide students with more or less of an opportunity to earn the scholarship, she said, and the Legislature wanted to even out any inequalities.

The intent was to address that inequality, not to change the system of choosing valedictorians, Rheault said.

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].