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UPDATED: School Committee unanimously votes to remove weighted GPA from WHS
Credit: WSPN Staff
A student compares their GPA to a national table for Harvard University. WPS’ School Committee voted Monday night to get rid of weighted GPA. It will take effect for the Class of 2022.
March 26, 2018
In a unanimous vote on Mar. 26, WPS’ School Committee voted to cease reporting weighted GPAs for WHS students beginning with next year’s incoming freshmen.
The decision was a result of two meetings full of discourse among committee members, administrators and parents. While it will not affect current WHS students, the Class of 2022 and all classes forthcoming will not receive a weighted GPA.
The original proponent of the proposal, WHS Principal Allyson Mizoguchi, was present to answer questions from committee members at both sessions. The entire School Committee, which is comprised of members Nate Buffum, Jeanne Downs, Kim Reichelt, Kathie Steinberg and chair Ellen Grieco, was present at the meeting and each member offered their reasoning for the decision.
All members explicitly deferred to the expertise of professionals in the field and the recommendation from Mizoguchi.
“I don’t really think I am not all about democracy,” Grieco said. “This is a decision that should be made by the professionals.”
Grieco added that she was “very torn” about making a decision and believed that students would be able to better express themselves academically without a weighted GPA.
“[It’s really] important to have people see themselves broadly,” Grieco said. “[This allows for colleges to] see the whole person instead of one numeric measure.”
“We want students to succeed,” Buffum said. “I believe we do need to trust WHS staff and teachers, [as they have] research [and] experiences with students all day.”
In her reasoning, Reichelt noted that she felt rushed due to the timeliness required in such a decision. It was made known during the meeting that a decision had to be reached today, Mar. 26, in order for the proposal to go into effect for the following school year. This is due to the starting of the course selection process for the Class of 2022 this week.
“The way we think about this says something about our values,” Reichelt said.
In the public comment section before the formal start of the committee member discourse, parents, Mizoguchi and WPS Superintendent of Schools Arthur Unobskey voiced their opinions.
According to Mizoguchi, students have decided not to take certain courses because they fear it will impact their GPA negatively. She believes this causes less non-honors level courses to run.
One parent argued against the proposal, contending that most students did not support it.
“The kids have been very clear [about not removing weighted GPAs],” one parent said. “Why are we so much smarter than the kids?”
“We can allow [students] to not have to deal with this additional ‘thing’ that we created,” Unobskey said. “Why not let them develop resilience skills and talent without this Wayland currency around GPA?”
It was unclear how or whether valedictorians and salutatorians of future classes would be determined.
Check out WSPN’s previous coverage of the weighted GPA removal here.
Editor’s note: We have updated the article since its initial publication. After reviewing the WayCAM video, we stand by our updated coverage of the school committee meeting.
Asa Greenaway • Mar 28, 2018 at 11:08 AM
This is just another example in a line of many showing how out of touch the administration of the high school is with their students. The goal of school is not to make sure that everyone feels good about themselves but to make sure that kids challenge themselves. This is a terrible decision and while I am not going to be affected by this change I feel bad for my younger siblings and friends.
Edna Vassilovski • Mar 28, 2018 at 7:58 AM
The article prompted me to watch the school committee meeting recording because some of the quotes in the WSPN article because I couldn’t imagine certain of the people speaking as they were quoted. I’m glad to see that the alleged quote about C’s in classes was removed. I applaud the good work WSPN does, but for journalistic integrity and insuring your audience feels it can continue to rely on accurate reporting, I’d ask that you consider also removing or editing the comment about school committee member Kim Reichelt feeling rushed to make a decision. I did not get that take away from her input at the meeting, and her comment to the article corroborates my understanding.
Kim Reichelt • Mar 27, 2018 at 4:45 PM
Thank you for your coverage of our meeting last night. I would like to offer a couple of clarifications, because I don’t feel the quotes above reflect what I said (or at least what I meant).
I do not believe I said felt rushed to make a decision. My point was not that I felt rushed, but that some parents had expressed feeling the decision needed to be made quickly, as 8th grade students and parents felt they needed to know our decision in order to be able to make course selections for next year. That, to me, exemplified a reason to vote in favor of the proposal – if how we calculate a weighted GPA that would at most affect these students four years hence when they apply for college is influencing whether they take an honors or a college level course freshman year, then they are focusing on the wrong thing. Students should be making course selections based on what is right for them, the appropriate level of challenge without undo or inappropriate struggle. And that decision should be made with consideration of their full selection of courses, and what that student is able to manage. It should not be about generating the highest possible GPA. It is important that our policies and procedures reflect those values.
Also, I did not say (or at least certainly didn’t mean to say) that students should not take courses they might get a C in – I said that the policy in place when I was at Wayland High School reflected that belief – the weights back then gave Honors and an additional point over College classes, and AP courses an additional point above Honors, but treated a C the same whether it was in College, Honors or AP (i.e., a college C was a 2.0, and an AP C was a 2.0, but an AP B was a 5.0). So the message at that time was don’t take a course you have any chance of getting a C in, and that a C was unsatisfactory, even though the very definition of C was “satisfactory performance”.
The values we should impart are about love of learning and taking risks and taking courses you enjoy, not encouraging an endeavor to achieve the highest possible GPA.
Duncan Stephenson • Mar 28, 2018 at 9:26 AM
Hi,
Thank you for your concern. We have reviewed the WayCAM video, and have determined that our reporting is factually sound. For the quote about you feeling rushed, see 1:25 in the video below.
Link: http://www.waycam.tv/government-on-demand (“School Committee” – March 26, 2018).
Thank you,
Duncan Stephenson
Co-Editor-in-Chief
WSPN
Kim Reichelt • Mar 28, 2018 at 9:57 AM
Duncan, you are obviously entitled to write the article as you see fit. I would like to clarify, then, that my use of the word “rushed’ was in the passive voice – we were being rushed (by parents who felt they needed the information). It is that they were rushing us to make a decision to help their children make what I consider to be a completely unrelated decision was what was problematic. I never felt that we rushed the vote, as we had had plenty of time to understand and consider the issue. I thought it was important to be clear that I did not feel that this process was rushed.