State leaders have made a change that will alter the number of quality points awarded for honors and Advanced Placement classes, thus impacting Leesville freshmen.
It is well known that Wake County schools are now using the ten point scale, but the change in quality points is not common knowledge. In the past, two extra quality points were given in A.P. classes, and one extra point was given in honors classes. Now, AP classes count for one extra quality point and honors classes count for 0.5.
The chart below shows the hypothetical difference between an incoming freshman and a junior who earn equal letter grades in the same classes.
| Class of 2019 | GPA Points | Class of 2017 | GPA Points |
| Freshman year:
5 honors 3 As 2 Bs |
13.5 7 —- 32.5/8 |
Junior year:
5 honors 3 As 2 Bs |
15 8 —- 35/8 |
In theory, the older students will have the chance to have higher GPAs, because of their, now out-dated, grading scale. However, it won’t make much of a difference.
“The freshmen are never gonna know anything different, so they’ll be on the same playing field as everyone else who is a freshmen in North Carolina; by time they graduate, they won’t be disadvantaged at all,” Eric Greene, Dean of Student Services said. In short, when these freshmen apply for colleges in three years, they will be on the same grading scale as the other applicants.
The quality point adjustment was made for a variety of reasons, the most important being that, “It’s more in line with the college system,” explained Greene. He further explained that colleges give out an extra point for honors classes, and now high schools will follow their lead. This is a new era for North Carolina schools, but the freshman will never know anything else, having never used the old quality points scale. Perhaps ignorance is bliss.
