Report begs more information
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FairfaxCAPS [Fairfax County Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools] is a parent group dedicated to turning back the west county boundary decision by filing suit against the Fairfax County Public School Board. FairfaxCAPS has also endorsed FAIRGRADE, a grassroots movement to bring the Fairfax County grading scale into alignment with other area school districts by transitioning to a 10-point grading scale (90-100 = A) instead of the current six-point grading scale (94-100 = A).
FairfaxCAPS recently issued a "report card" of all county high schools based on student performance on SOLs in the core curriculum areas. FairfaxCAPS should convert their report card to the 10-point scale and publish those results on their Web site alongside their current work.
I would also ask why their chart ranks Oakton above Robinson above West Springfield, when they all have the exact same grades and the same GPA. Shouldn't they all be ranked number 7 instead of 7, 8 and 9? Why are Westfield and Herndon 13 and 14, respectively, when Westfield has a B, B, A, A and a 3.27 GPA, and Herndon has a B+, B, A, and A with a 3.27 GPA? Why is Stuart ranked 17 and Edison ranked 18, when Stuart has been assigned the grades of B+, C+, B+ and B and Edison is B, B, B+ and B+, and both have a GPA of 3.0?
Most students or parents, when given a list of grades like those four to average would not come up with these same rankings. FairfaxCAPS should provide further explanation beyond their general comments on methodology.
For FairfaxCAPS to be credible in their reporting, they should publish the actual percentages, which their current report does not display, along with the comparison based on the 10-point grading scale that they are currently endorsing for students through FAIRGRADE. The current report discloses this about their methodology: "[T]ies are broken using the average of actual SOL test scores.”
The public deserves the actual percentages so they can determine any significant differences among schools that receive the same grades but are lower ranking on their chart. FairfaxCAPS should provide grades based on the 10-point grading scale they endorse, and they should list percentages for their SOL tests used for ranking purposes for better comparison purposes.
Elizabeth Gibson
Herndon
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