In 2014, the Henrico County School Board approved a change (below) in how honors/AP/IBDP/IBMYP, and dual-enrollment classes are weighted. The revamped policy states that these changes would be applied to the Class of 2017. As planned, the changes took effect in the summer of 2016.

The changes have been communicated to students and families on a countywide and school level since 2015, but some students have noticed the change recently as seniors received their class rankings and GPA information. The information here is a reminder of the 2014 policy change and answers some questions about it. Information about the policy also appears in the HCPS Planning Guide on page 20. 

Q: When did the 10-point grading scale take effect?
A: The 10-point grading scale has been in effect for all students in grades 6-12 since the first day of the 2014-15 school year.

Q: How did changes to the grading system affect class rank?
A: Students do not receive a class rank until the fall of their senior year. Class rank will still be calculated the same way it always has been using the new grading scale from the fall of 2014. The class of 2015 was the first class to receive the ranking with the new 10-point scale.

Q: How will honors, AP and IB classes factor into the new grading practices?
A: Students in the classes of 2017, 2018 and 2019 saw all high school honors, AP and IB classes count as a 0.17 quality point on their transcript until the summer of 2016. In the summer of 2016, all honors, AP and IB classes were converted to the new 1.0 (for AP, dual-enrollment and Diploma IB) and 0.5 (honors and MYP IB) system. The quality points were retroactively applied to all high school honors, AP and IB classes in the summer of 2016.

Q: Will my current student’s grades be converted to the new 10-point scale, and when?
A: All student grades that are recorded in the student information system for middle and high school classes (grades 6-12) were converted to the new 10-point scale during the summer of 2014. These changes were reflected on the high school transcript during the summer of 2014.

Q: If a student earned a failing grade in a course before the 2014-15 school year and it was between 65 and 69 percent, will it now be a passing grade?
A: No. Any grade of “F” issued under the current 7-point grading scale remained an “F” through the conversion process of the summer of 2014. If the class is needed for graduation, the student will have to recover the credit by taking the course again.

Q: How will colleges and universities find out about the new scale?
A: Colleges and universities will be informed of HCPS grading changes through the profile sheet that is issued with each transcript.

Q: Is this the only source of information on the new grading practices?
A: No. Multiple formats were used to communicate the changes to students and parents so that they would have a clear understanding of how this would affect grades beginning in the 2014-15 school year, as well as GPAs in the summer of 2016. Students were instructed on how to calculate their actual GPA using the 0.5 and 1.0 quality-point system as opposed to the 0.17 system that was used on transcripts until the transition was made in the student record system in the summer of 2016.