Prince William School Board moves to change grade weighting in middle, high schools

Students may be out of school for the rest of the academic year, but their GPAs are still going up.

The Prince William County School Board unanimously approved a motion during their May 6 meeting to direct Superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts to make adjustments to student transcripts to reflect the new course weighting procedures for fall 2020.

“We’re looking for ways to increase our students’ competitiveness with neighboring jurisdictions, especially as students go on to colleges and other advanced programs. We think it will really help our students compare fairly and equitably with their regional peers,” said Gainesville District School Board representative Jennifer T. Wall. 

This course weighting change will aid Prince William County Schools students in being more competitive on college and scholarship applications with students from neighboring counties.

According to Fairfax County Public Schools, 89% of their students in 2018-2019 planned to attend a two or four-year institution after high school. Prince William County Schools, on the other hand, only had 78.7% of students doing the same in 2018-2019, according to the Prince William County Public Schools High School Division Summary. 

“There were a number of courses that we had that weren’t weighted at 4.5 or 5 like our neighbors, Loudoun and Fairfax. So we made that adjustment in the fall, but we never made the adjustment to the grade-point average for the students who took those courses in the past,” said Chairman Babur Lateef. 

The new course weighting will affect students in grades 7 through 11 who have taken certain Pre-AP and advanced classes. The weighting of those classes will be shifted up by either a half, or 1 point, which would give a student with a 4.0 in a class, for example, a 4.5 or 5.0, raising their overall grade-point average. 

This grade weighting shift will affect thousands of students, according to Chairman Lateef. 

The affected classes are:

• Pre-AP English 9 (+.5) 
• Pre-AP English 10(+.5)
• IGCSE English 9(+.5)
• IGCSE English 10(+.5)
• ADV-MYP English 9(+.5)
• ADV-MYP English 10(+.5)
• SOL English 11 Comp DE(+1.0)
• English 12 Lit DE(+1.0)
• Survey of World Lit DE(+1.0)
• Advanced Band(+.5) 
• CFPA Colgan Chamber Ensemble(+.5) 
• CFPA Philharmonic Orchestra(+.5) 
• CFPA Wind Symphony(+.5) 
• CFPA Ensemble(+.5) 
• CFPA Dance Artist IV(+.5) 
• Directing Screen & Stage(+.5) 
• Orchestra Ensemble(+.5) 
• Vocal Ensemble(+.5) 
• Adv MYP Art 1(+.5) 
• Adv MYP Orchestra(+.5) 
• Adv MYP Choir(+.5) 
• Adv MYP Band(+.5) 
• Theatre IV(+.5) 
• IGSCE Music Studies(+.5) 
• Pre-AP World History/Geography 1(+.5) 
• Adv MYP World History/Geo 2(+.5) 
• IGCSE History(+.5) 
• Pre-AICE World History/Geo 1(+.5) 
• IGCSE Global Perspectives(+.5) 
• ADV World History/Geography 2(+.5) 
• Pre-AP Algebra I(+.5) 
• ADV MYP Algebra I(+.5) 
• IGCSE Algebra I(+.5) 
•  Pre-AP Geometry(+.5) 
• ADV MYP Geometry(+.5) 
• IGCSE Geometry(+.5) 
• ADV Algebra II/Trig(+.5) 
• ADV MYP Algebra II(+.5) 
• IGCSE Algebra II/Trig (+.5) 
• ADV Comp Mathematics(+.5) 
• ADV Comp Studies(+.5) 
• Adv Computer Mathematics(+.5) 
• Adv Computer Studies(+.5)  
• Adv Programming(+.5)  
• Adv Comp Info Sys(+.5) 
• IGCSE Biology(+.5)  
•  Adv MYP Biology(+.5) 
• Pre-AP Chemistry(+.5)
• Adv MYP Biology(+.5)
• IGCSE Chemistry(+.5)
• IGCSE Physics(+.5)
• Adv MYP French 2(+.5)
• Advanced French 3(+.5)
• Adv MYP French 2(+.5)
• Advanced French 3(+.5)
• Advanced German 3(+.5) 
• Advanced German 4(+.5)
• IGCSE Italian 3(+.5)
• Advanced Latin 3(+.5)
• Advanced Russian 3(+.5) 
• Advanced Russian 4(+.5)
• Adv MYP Spanish 2(+.5)
• Adv MYP Spanish 3(+.5) 
• Advanced Spanish 3(+.5)
• Advanced Spanish 4(+.5)
• IB AB Initio Spanish II(+.5)
• Advanced Accounting(+.5)
• Advanced Fashion Marketing(+.5)
• Advanced Marketing(+.5)
• Advanced Sports, Ent, Rec Marketing(+.5)
• Adv IT Web Tech DE(+1.0)