We received an update from Daniel Brown, who has been actively following up on the Governor Livingston GPA issue as it relates to college admissions. His original email to the District and Board can be found here.
He recieved a reply from Dr. Feltre, who is new to the District and appears to be relying on guidance from Mr. Nixon and Dr. Janosko.
Concerning is that the response from the District is inconsistent with their own printed materials and the experience of a College Admissions official- making it seem as if our own Administrators are unclear about how the process work.
Response from Dr. Feltre:
Thank you very much for your email and expressing your concerns. I invite you to have a conversation with Dr. Janosko and/or Mr. Nixon regarding grading at Governor Livingston High School and your son's grades, as well as college applications and acceptances. After conversing with them for some information regarding your concerns, I believe there are some misunderstandings. I believe that you would benefit from a specific conversation about your son, his grades, and his college admission process. In response to some of your concerns, I've embedded what I have found out below:
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There is a weighted and unweighted GPA scale at GL. The weighted GPA takes into consideration courses that are of higher rigor by adding a .5 weight for Honors level and 1.0 weight for AP level.
*Every college has their own method (index) of calculating a GPA. Every single high school has different ways in which to calculate a GPA. Some schools are on a weighted 5.0 scale. Some schools do not “weight” and/or differentiate between academic, honors, and AP level courses. In order for a college to level the playing field regardless of where a student attends high school, colleges create their own method of calculating a GPA. This process is specific to the individual college.
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GL doesn't have a 4.5 grade scale. GL has a traditional 4.0 scale. An A at GL is equal to 4.0.
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Your son has an unweighted and weighted GPA that is exactly the same as the student who has not taken any Honors (.5 weight) or AP (1.0 weight) while in high school. I believe a follow up conversation with Dr. Janosko and/or Mr. Nixon may help you to understand GL's GPA scale, as GL has a traditional 4.0 scale.
My understanding is that your son applied to a school he wanted to be considered for Early Admit. He did not have the minimum GPA to be considered for this type of admissions decision, but that does not mean that he has been denied at this time. I invite you and/or your son to have a conversation with Dr. Janosko or his school counselor to help further understand the college admissions process.
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The school is in partnership with students and parents to help them navigate successful transition to college, should that be their focus. I hope that my answers clarify GL's GPA scale and the college admissions process and I do hope you continue the conversation with his school counselor, Dr. Janosko, and Mr. Nixon.
Have a wonderful evening and be safe.
Dan Replied to the email with the following:
Thank you for your response.
Unfortunately, I believe you are mistaken.
My son applied to a school which uses the Regent Admission Index, and he qualified under his unweighted GPA until that GPA was recalculated from a 4.5-point scale to a 4-point scale after the college admissions counselor was advised of our 4.5-point scale by my son's high school counselor. This has nothing to do with weighting - I believe our unweighted scale is 4.5 points.
I have attached images of the documentation provided by GL below which shows our unweighted scale is a 4.5-point scale. I have also enclosed a screenshot of the email sent by the college admissions counselor, stating GL has a 4.5-point unweighted scale.
Please let me know your thoughts in light of this information.
The discrepancy between the information provided to Dr. Feltre by GLHS, the school’s own materials, and feedback from the college admissions office is concerning. To date, Dan has not received any further updates from District Administration. However, he has reported that two Board of Education members have responded with emails expressing support for his concerns and two with further questions.
Last week we published a spreadsheet demonstrating a possible solution: Solution to GLHS GPA Issue Potentially Impacting College Admissions.
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