The grades Tiffany Piper received at the end of fall quarter came as a welcome shock for the junior at Roosevelt High School in Casper.

"All my grades went to A's and B's," Tiffany said. "It was awesome."

It was the first time since junior high Tiffany had earned such high grades. The boost in her grade point average came courtesy of a new grading scale at Roosevelt.

Roosevelt now operates on a 10-point grading scale, meaning a 90 percent earns students an A. In the past, students needed a 93 or better to earn the top mark under the seven-point scale.

Roosevelt Principal Mike Pickett said the school's decision to change its scale related directly to the Hathaway Scholarship, which uses GPA and ACT scores as criteria in awarding scholarships.

"When the Hathaway Scholarship came out, an A is an A," Pickett said. "You want to give your kids every advantage you can."

Wyoming schools that formerly used a seven-point scale have over the past year or two been switching to a 10-point scale so their students would be competitive for the college scholarship, which pays between $800 and $1600 a semester.

Kelly Walsh and Natrona County high schools have also changed to a 10-point scale this year.

When it comes down to it, Pickett said, standards should either be as high as possible, or level the playing field. Changing the scale is not an excuse for students to slack off, Pickett added.

And Tiffany is aware that making A's requires hard work.

"I still have to get good grades, and put in the effort," she said.

For students like Tiffany, a 10-point scale bumps up their confidence and puts them in a position to earn more Hathaway money for college.

But for students already at the top of their classes, like Roosevelt senior Alicia Turner, a 10-point scale can mean there's more leeway for getting an A.

"It makes it easier to get one," said Alicia, who was quick to add that getting an A still required hard work.

Kelly Walsh Principal Brad Diller said the change was to create grading consistency among teachers and classes.

"Our teachers have high expectations of students regardless of the course or course level," Diller said. "The vast majority of kids take their grades very seriously."

The Natrona County School District's Parent Community Advisory Council plans to discuss grading scales at its meeting today, which is at 11:45 a.m. at the district's central office and is open to the public.

Whether students are graded on a 10-point or seven-point scale doesn't seem to be a big deal, said advisory council member Shannon Schilling, until Hathaway is thrown into the mix.

"The difference between an A and a B is the difference between a lot of money," Schilling said. "It's a hot topic."

There's also the issue of how individual teachers grade, Schilling said.

Grading scales aren't necessarily aligned to what a student actually knows, said John Durkee, supervisor of standards for the Wyoming Department of Education.

"Even two teachers who are teaching the same class, who are using the same scale, that same scale is still going to represent different student achievement," Durkee said. "I think that the mistake many people make is that grades correlate directly to understanding."

Grades aren't always strictly about points, Durkee said. It's not an automatic standard of showing that, "this and this means a 91," he said.

"Every district is a little different in terms of how they manage grading scales," Durkee said.

Natrona County school board policy dictates a student's grade should represent both academic achievement and effort put into the course, said Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Mark Mathern. The fact that schools are changing their scales doesn't necessarily mean curriculum standards are being lowered.

"I see it as an attempt to provide some consistency across schools," Mathern said.

Students are aware of what's at stake when it comes to their GPAs. At a meeting of the Joint Education Committee on Tuesday, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride noted that the state department of education has found students are opting out of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and dual-enrollment college classes.

At Cheyenne Central High School, Sophomore Principal Cory Talich said he's seen this first-hand.

"Students are worried about having that GPA to get that much money," Talich said.

Midwest School Principal Bruce Youngquist is wary of the 10-point scale, though he doesn't think other schools are wrong for changing to it. Midwest has a 7-point scale, where a 93 or better earns students an A. Youngquist has given a lot of thought to changing to a 10-point.

"It's worth discussing," Youngquist said. "It's not a cut and dried issue."

The problem with the scale for Youngquist lies at its bottom, where a 60 to 69 percent is worth a D.

"Do we want our kids to learn only 60 percent?" Youngquist asked. "I'm not comfortable that the bottom end is by 10's."

Youngquist also questioned whether a lower grading scale was the outcome the Legislature had in mind when it approved the Hathaway. And changing the grading scale won't change a student's ACT scores, Youngquist said.

"I don't think that was the intent," he said of the legislature. "The grading scale, whether we go higher or lower, will not affect ACT's.

"Is it about the Hathaway Scholarship, or is it about setting a curriculum standard that shows students can perform?"

Reach Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@casperstartribune.net.

*90 to 100 is an A

*80 to 89 is a B

*70 to 79 is a C

*60 to 69 is a D

*Below 60 is failing.

On a 7-point scale, the following percentages earn these grades:

*93 to 100 is an A

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