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EDUCATION AHS weights GPAs to reflect advanced work Change put in place to help students headed for college Comment By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 22, 2016 at 11:58 AM Updated Feb 23, 2016 at 11:21 AM By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 22, 2016 at 11:58 AM Updated Feb 23, 2016 at 11:21 AM » Social News Ashland High School students fishing for merit scholarships will have one less obstacle to clear thanks to a clerical tweak that will provide seniors with an additional transcript that’s weighted to reflect advanced placement course work. The change, considered by Principal Erika Bare and her advisory committee in November, went into effect during the school’s second semester and may have already helped some students land scholarships previously unattainable at colleges and universities that don’t distinguish between weighted and unweighted GPAs, such as the University of Oregon. Though the school still employs an unweighted grading system for internal functions such as class ranking and valedictorian selection, starting this year incoming seniors will be provided with two GPAs, one weighted and one not. Also, students who are scheduled to graduate in June may acquire their weighted GPA by requesting it from the school. Bare said Thursday that the weighted-versus-unweighted debate has been a topic of conversation at AHS for years, and was decided only after careful consideration. “We reviewed a significant amount of research, took a look at what universities and colleges did look at when considering students for admittance or for a scholarship,” she said. “And what we found is that the majority of colleges and universities take into consideration whether a high school student is bringing in a weighted or unweighted GPA when making their decision.” A high-school student’s GPA is calculated by adding together the total number of points they received and dividing that number by the total number of classes they took. In an unweighted system, students receive a fixed number of points for each grade — four points for an “A,” three for a “B” and so on — regardless of each class’s difficulty level. A weighted system awards more points for advanced placement courses. Most colleges and universities distinguish between the two, but because one of the state’s major universities — the University of Oregon — doesn’t, Ashland High students applying there for merit scholarships have historically been fighting an uphill battle. Oregon State University may also soon choose not to distinguish between weighted and unweighted GPAs. As Ashland School Board Director Deneice Covert Zeve said during the Feb. 8 school board meeting, “There are certain thresholds for GPA that you have to reach to get scholarships at some schools and admittance, and some universities will make it equal across all schools and some won’t. And so we were missing out on the ones that wouldn’t make it equal.” “It impacted a very few number of students,” Bare said, “but the impact it was having was significant.” Speaking to Bare and the rest of the board during its Feb. 8 meeting, Chairman Jim Westrick said the move is already having an impact in scholarship amounts. “I heard from one parent that it made an immediate difference to the tune of about seven to eight thousand dollars,” Westrick said. “We’re seeing that that one clerical change on the transcript is translating into a whole lot of dollars for kids, and that’s really great to see.” Reach Joe Zavala at 541-821-0829 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @Joe_Zavala99. By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Feb. 22, 2016 at 11:58 AM Updated Feb 23, 2016 at 11:21 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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