We’re glad to see that Gilroy High School and Gilroy Unified
School District administrators are seriously considering returning
to a weighted grades system for students in advanced placement
classes.
We’re glad to see that Gilroy High School and Gilroy Unified School District administrators are seriously considering returning to a weighted grades system for students in advanced placement classes.
Weighted grading is the name given to the practice of adding value to grade point averages of students who take AP, or advanced placement, classes.
Weighted grades were unilaterally canned by former GHS principal Wendy Gudalewicz, who mysteriously deemed them “detrimental” to students.
Gudalewicz ended the weighted grades practice without consulting the school board. Her replacement, Bob Bravo, is doing the right thing by seeking trustees’ approval and parent’s input with regard to a possible return to weighted grades.
We urge them to give weighted grades their unanimous blessing.
Like it or not, and weighted-grades check box on the application form or not, college admissions is a competitive numbers game. Advanced students seeking admission to top-flight universities might not even have their essays and application materials reviewed because their non-weighted grade point averages don’t compare well to the GPAs of students who received weighted grades.
Let’s not handicap Gilroy’s brightest like that.
But besides allowing GHS grads a better shot at college admission, weighted grades give students a reason to challenge themselves academically. Why bother with the more rigorous biology or English class if the “A” you receive in the AP class is exactly the same as the “A” another student receives in the regular class?
It’s only fair to reward hard work with weighted grades.
And as long as we’re on the subject of gifted students – who tend to populate advanced classes – we’d like to weigh in on the great GATE debate.
We urge GUSD trustees and administrators to find a way to place GATE-trained teachers at each elementary school site so that they can offer specialized instruction to gifted students during the school day.
As a society, we’d never tolerate inadequate educational resources for other challenged students – from those with dyslexia to English-language learners and beyond – and we shouldn’t tolerate it for gifted students either.
Gifted children are often bored in regular classes that frequently fail to challenge them. Let’s find a way to provide all of Gilroy’s kids a stimulating learning environment.
We encourage trustees to approve weighted grades for AP classes and GATE teachers at each elementary school and we hope like-minded readers will do the same.
ACTION ITEMS: An open forum on the weighted grades issue will be held on Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in the Gilroy High School library.
To contact GUSD school board members:
• Trustee Tom Bundros,e-mail bu*****@ms*.com
• Trustee John Gurich, 847-4249; e-mail gu*****@es****.org
• Trustee Bob Kraemer, 842-6949; e-mail bk******@ga****.com
• Trustee David McRae, e-mail Da**********@ao*.com
• Trustee T.J. Owens, 847-1927; to******@ao*.com
• Trustee Jim Rogers, 842-8494; e-mail jr*****@ga****.com
• Trustee Jaime Rosso, 842-6681; e-mail ja***@ga****.com
