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Northwestern Lehigh SD Board weighs switching from 7-point to 10-point grading scale
Summary
Board members reviewed research and surveys on the districts grading scale, with staff recommending study and a potential district-wide change targeted for 2026'7; questions centered on passing thresholds (60 vs. 70), implementation for middle grades, and teacher committee involvement.
Speaker 3 presented the districts grading-scale review, saying the district surveyed students, parents and staff and compared a 7-point scale with a 10-point/100-point system. The presentation summarized responses from 1,042 students, 121 teachers and 386 parents and outlined tradeoffs: students and parents favored a 10-point system for perceived fairness and reduced stress, while teachers expressed concern about grade inflation and maintaining rigor.
The board heard multiple questions about how a switch would work in practice. Speaker 4 asked whether grades 4 and 5 should use a numeric scale or remain standards-based, and whether the district would adopt a 60- or 70-percent passing threshold. Speaker 3 said teacher committee input is needed and cautioned that changes require software (Sapphire) configuration and careful implementation. "We did surveys... 76.5% of the students supported the 10 scale," Speaker 3 told the board; he also noted teacher responses were more mixed.
Board members focused on transcript and credential questions for colleges and on how middle-school GPAs would align with high-school records. Speaker 12 raised the dual-enrollment concern, asking whether the district should harmonize passing thresholds with typical college practice; Speaker 3 replied college standards vary by institution and major, and the district would continue to use college-specific expectations for dual-enrollment courses.
No formal motion or vote was taken. Staff recommended further work by committees and principals, with a suggested target for implementation for numeric grade-bearing grades in the 2026'7 school year if the board and committees reach consensus. Speaker 3 said the recommendation was to "answer the following questions and do the implementation in 26/27" while assuring the board that the committee would return with specifics on weighted/AP/honors, transcript handling and middle-school grading alignment.
The board asked staff to solicit additional teacher feedback and report back; several members urged faster action on discrete implementation decisions, while others emphasized the importance of teacher buy-in and careful software changes to avoid transcript errors.
The board will revisit this item at a future meeting once the teacher committee and principals have reviewed implementation options.
