Grades

Grades consist of numbers, letters, or phrases that indicate a student's school performance during a certain period of time or on a particular assignment. In addition to measuring the quality of a student's work, grades are also an indication of the progress a student has or has not made. Consistently poor grades indicate that a student is not progressing academically. He or she is then placed at a higher risk of being retained the following school year. Consistently high grades indicate that a student is progressing well academically and should be promoted to the next level.

In addition to affecting whether or not a student is retained, grades are also used in academic placements. Students who receive poor grades may be placed in classes that are more tailored to their needs. In these classes, they may receive more individualized attention in an effort to increase their academic success. Students receiving average grades typically remain in regular education classrooms and will continue with the standard curricula. Students receiving very high grades may be placed into accelerated, advanced placement, or gifted and talented classes. In these cases, the students may advance through the curricula at a faster pace or study topics in more depth.

There are many ways in which schools place number grades with corresponding letter grades. This is typically calculated by assigning percentages of the final grade to class assignments and exams. For example, a teacher may count homework assignments as 40% of a final grade and two exams as 30% each—the percentages of the homework and two exams will equal 100%.

The most common system in the United States for assigning number grades with letters is the 10-point system: 90 to 100 = A; 80 to 89 = B; 75 to 79 = C; 70 to 74 = D; 0 to 69 = F. Another widely used system is the 7-point system, which is: 93 to 100 = A; 85 to 92 = B; 75 to 84 = C; 65 to 74 = D; 0 to 64 = F. Additionally, most schools evaluate very young students without number grades. A common grading scale for students in kindergarten through second grade is by giving a child an ‘S’ for Satisfactory, or a ‘U’ for Unsatisfactory. This is done because it is very difficult to assess a young student's abilities; the skills being graded are more transitory and are tied to development.

When students reach high school, grades are also used to rank students in relation to one another by calculating the students' grade point averages (GPAs). These GPA rankings are used by the school in determining the order in which students will graduate in relation to their peers. GPAs are also used by colleges and universities in determining which students will be admitted to their school. While the minimum GPAs of accepted students changes from school to school, some states, such as Texas, require all state schools to admit every applicant who graduates in the top 10% of his/her respective high school class.

To determine a student's GPA on the common 4.00 scale, each of the student's individual course grades is assigned a

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