As Beachwood administrators sought to increase enrollment in AP classes last school year, one idea that circulated was to weight grades for AP and honors students receiving a C+ or greater.

Many students and staff members were under the impression the policy had been put into place for the present school year. Some teachers used this as a recruiting method and were later surprised to find this was not the case during first quarter this year.

AP English Language and Composition teacher Peter Harvan was among these staff members.

“I personally made recommendations to students based on the weighting change,” Harvan said. “I was always under the impression the policy had been approved all the way up, although apparently not at the board level. I did not even hear about going back to the old system until students told me.”

Later in the year, junior Caroline Stern was among the students surprised by the policy remaining at the B- threshold.

“I heard that the AP classes were going to be weighted at a C, which influenced me to take AP [Language],” Stern said. “When I found that it was not going to be weighted, I was already a couple weeks into first semester.”

Seniors Max Bleich and David Bohm also believed they would get a GPA boost for grades below a B- and expressed dismay when this did not occur.

“The current policy cannot change without [School] Board mandate,” Principal Edward Klein said.

Klein acknowledged that one of the district’s goals is to increase enrollment, but also acknowledged reservations with the policy.

“The administration felt it would be unfair to students that took the weighted classes in prior years,” he said.

Former BHS Principal and current Asst. Superintendent Robert Hardis foresees a potential policy change in the future, but believes the process could be difficult.

“I do believe a change is a possibility, but the issues associated with making the change would be very difficult to navigate,” Hardis wrote in an email. “The district will need to consider a host of equity issues that will emerge when any change in this policy takes effect.”

“The weighting could be phased in with the freshman class and at least all students in a particular graduating class would be playing by the same rules,” Superintendent Dr. Richard Markwardt wrote in an email.

Markwardt felt that a sudden change in policy would cause serious problems.

“It would have opened the door to myriad miscalculations while recalculating students’ GPA’s taking into account the new weight for C+ grades earned in past years,” he wrote.

“There was not consensus regarding the details of weighting C+ grades,” he added.

Despite equity issues, Klein still sees the value in changing the policy.

“I think that it would encourage students to consider pushing themselves academically, taking more courses with the weighted safety net,” Klein said.

For Beachwood students taking honors courses, grades are weighted on a 4.5 scale and for Beachwood students taking AP courses, grades are weighted on a 5.0 scale. That is only offered for grades above a B-.

Currently, grades C+ and below are weighted on a 4.0 scale. This means a B- in an AP course would be weighted as 3.7 while a C+ would be weighted as a 2.3. In an honors course, a B- would be weighted as a 3.2 while a C+ would be weighted as a 2.3.

BHS is one of the few remaining schools in the greater Cleveland area that does not grant honors or AP weighted credit to students receiving a grade below a B- in their respective class. For example, Solon weights a C, and both Brush and Mayfield weight grades above D+. Hawken Upper and Orange High School offer weighted grades for students earning any grade.

Principal Klein said teachers originally advocated the policy change.

“Teachers presented it to me, mainly subject coordinators during a monthly meeting,” he said. “It was given as an option to increase enrollment.”

AP Economics teacher Pam Ogilvy is in favor of changing Beachwood’s grading policy, but believes it is more for the student’s motivation rather than as a competitive advantage in college applications.

“One of the district’s goals is to increase AP numbers, and it’s [changing the weight policy] one of the easiest ways to do it. I’m in support of changing the policy because we would get more kids into AP classes, [but] colleges usually unweight your GPA.” she said.