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School board hears staff-backed proposal to move to 10-point grading scale
Summary
At its August meeting, the Millinocket Public Schools board heard a presentation from a staff member, Christie, who said 18 of 19 responding staff favor switching middle- and high-school grading to a 10-point scale with pluses/minuses; board members pressed for clarity on transcript/GPA translation for dual-enrolled students.
Christie, a staff presenter, told the Millinocket Public Schools board that she surveyed colleagues over the summer and that 18 of 19 respondents supported switching the district’s middle- and high-school grading scale from a seven-point model to a 10-point model with A+/A/A- and C+/C/C- bands.
"Of the 19 staff that responded, 18 of them voted to change to a 10-point scale," Christie said, arguing the change would add top-end differentiation so that a 97 and a 93 would no longer be treated identically on a 4.0 translation. She said the proposed compromise keeps below-70 as failing and adds plus/minus distinctions to make the grading more granular.
Board members asked how the change would affect students who are dually enrolled in college courses. The discussion noted that transcripts currently record numeric GPAs and that different institutions translate numeric grades into letter grades and GPA differently; proponents said keeping numeric grades on transcripts would limit translation problems but acknowledged the translation issue remains a practical concern for dual-enrolled students.
Supporters framed the proposal as aligning high‑school grading more closely with common college practices and making grades easier for parents and students to understand. Christie also said that staff felt the current seven-point scale did not reflect differences in high-end performance and that returning to a 10-point model would better reward small but meaningful grade differences.
The board did not take a formal vote on adopting a new grading scale during the meeting; the item was placed on the agenda for discussion. The presentation materials will be shared with board members and incorporated into handbook language if the board moves forward with a policy change.
Next steps: The board added the grading-scale conversation to tonight’s agenda and will determine whether and how to advance a formal proposal in a later meeting.
