Loyal board votes to wait on weighted grades

After a fairly lengthy conversation with points brought up on both sides, the Loyal School Board has decided not to change the school district’s grading system to weighted grades, at least for the time being.

The discussion took place at the Aug. 20 board meeting. Although board members could see the benefits of weighted grades, the main holdup for them was uncertainty on what the Greenwood School District wanted to do, and wanting the school districts’ grading systems to align by the tentative consolidation date of July 1, 2028.

The board received a fact sheet explaining weighted grades. Under this system, the district choose to weigh dual credit and Advanced Placement courses heavier than the other average classes because of their academic rigor and counting towards college credit. While a normal grading system is built on a 4-point scale, with an “A” equaling a 4.0, in a weighted class, a “B” would equal a 4.0, thus providing incentive for students to take harder courses.

“We accumulated information on what local schools had done; it’s very common,” said Principal Angie Kollmansberger. “It encourages kids to earn a better score for their GPA. College-level classes demand more, and so it’s rewarding them for that work… With all the NTC [Northcentral Technical College] and other college classes we have, I think they should be rewarded.”

The fact sheet listed some of the pros for weighted grades as the following: — Encourages academic challenge: Students are motivated to take advanced courses, fostering a deeper understanding of subjects.

— Rewards effort: Students who excel in more difficult classes are rewarded for their hard work.

— Improves college admissions: Ahigher GPA from weighted grades can enhance college applications, showcasing a student’s commitment to academic rigor.

Cons listed were: — Grade inflation: Weighted grades can lead to inflated GPAs, making it harder to distinguish between students.

— Stress and competition: The pressure to take advanced courses can create stress and unhealthy competition among students.

Board president Derek Weyer said the recommendation to implement weighted

Please see Grades, page 5 grades came from the curriculum committee.

Board members liked the idea of encouraging students to challenge themselves, but still had several concerns with weighted grades.

Board member Matt Kubista wanted to ensure an even playing field. He suggested starting at the ninth grade level, so it would be the same system for the students’ entire high school career. He also was concerned that students might feel the pressure to sacrifice an elective class they would really like to take in order to take a college class to boost their GPA.

“I think it hurts the arts, and what I mean by that is Spanish, the art classes, choir, band. I would be concerned that kids would have an equal opportunity to take those,” he said.

“If we are going toward consolidation, it should be the same teachers using the same grading scale,” he added.

Fellow board member Dave Clintsman agreed, and felt both districts should start that grading scale at the same time.The two districts have a very similar grading scale — within a percentage point — so that would not be hard to mesh. However, Greenwood previously said no to weighted grades.

“Chris, do you see any potential issues if we do this and Greenwood does not?” asked board member Crystal Rueth.

“I could see potential issues. I have talked to Joe [Green]; I haven’t talked to Noah [Werner] yet,” replied Loyal District Administrator Chris Lindner.

Board member Nikki Rueth agreed that the timing of implementation was important.

“If they already took [a class] and it wasn’t weighted, and now it is weighted, that’s not fair,” she said.

“It think this should have been done years ago. It was brought up years ago. In this year’s senior class, we have four or five kids that are all close at the top. This would help separate them a little bit and the kids pushing themselves would be rewarded, versus them all having the same GPA and then we have to look at their ACT score.”

Board member Tom Odeen had some concerns about how to roll out the system if the district decided to move forward.

“How do we integrate it if we do it prior to consolidation? And how does that play into the averages when we come together? I’m not opposed to challenging kids and encouraging them to take harder courses, but also some of those elective classes could serve them well when they leave high school. So, I feel torn,” said Odeen.

“I feel torn as well, but we need to take our needs into consideration,” said Nikki Rueth.

Board member Kirk Haslow made a motion to table the issue until the board could have more discussion with the Greenwood School Board members in their joint meeting. Odeen seconded that motion, which passed 6-1 with Nikki Rueth voting against it.

The joint board meeting agenda does not list weighted grades as a discussion item, however. The next joint board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10 at Loyal High School, with a tour of the facilities at 6:30 p.m., prior to the start of the meeting at approximately 7:30 p.m.