Ste. Genevieve High School GPAs Will Switch From 11-Point Scale To 4-Point Scale

No Ste. Genevieve High School student will graduate with an 11.0 grade point average (GPA) in the future.

The Ste. Genevieve R-II School District Board of Education voted at last Thursday’s monthly meeting to move from an 11.0 grading scale to a 4.0 scale.

The board also voted to approve new criteria for making A, B and C grades.

From now on, an A will be 95 to 100 percent, an A-minus 90 to 94 percent, B-plus 87 to 89 percent, B 83 to 86 percent, B-minus 80 to 82 percent, C-plus 77 to 79 percent, C 73 to 76 percent, C-minus 70 to 72 percent, D-plus 67 to 69 percent, D 63 to 66 percent and D-minus 60 to 62 percent.

The previous district policy had A-minus beginning at 92 percent and B-plus extending through 91 percent.

The board also approved a switch from quarterly grading to semester grading.

A committee met four times during the 2018-19 school year to consider the changes.

“Our rationale behind that was the majority of the high schools in our region, they use the four-point scale,” said high school business teacher Denise Bader, who made the presentation. “Also, colleges use the four-point scale.”

Of 16 regional schools surveyed, only three used the 11.0 scale, Bader said.

The grade scale changes also will put the district more in line with other high schools and especially with colleges.

“We had two reasons we wanted to see that changed,” Bader said. “One, it will align better with university grade scales. For example, if you’re taking calculus here at the high school for college credit and make a 91, well on our current grade scale, that 91’s going to be a B-plus. But, on the university grade scale, it’s going to be transcripted as an A. So they don’t match up.” …

Meanwhile, a Latin honors system with summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude designations will be added for graduating seniors.

“We are not looking at taking away any of the current honors that we have,” Bader said. “We will still recognize top 10 percent, still have valedictorian and salutatorian. We just wanted to add another honor, another way to recognize those students that are working hard.”

See complete story in the June 26 edition of the Herald.