Uniform Grading Policy for South Carolina High Schools

A uniform grading policy has been established for all South Carolina high schools. The complete text of the new grading policy can be obtained by accessing the State Department of Education’s website at SC Department of Education Uniform Grading Policy or by contacting your local high school. Highlights of the policy include:

• • • All grades on report cards and transcripts in South Carolina public high schools will be numerical.

    • The numerical breaks for corresponding letter grades are:

90-100 = A;     80-89 = B;        70-79= C;         60-69 = D;        0-59 = F

• • • A student’s grade-point average and rank in class will be figured from a grade-point conversion table available on the website listed above.

    • The conversion table assigns “quality points” to each numerical grade depending on the grade earned and the category of weight assigned to the course taken. College Prep and Tech Prep courses earn the base weight. Honors and Pre-IB (International Baccalaureate) courses earn a one-half quality point more, and Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and dual credit courses earn a full quality point more than the base weight. (For example, a student who earns a 100 in a Teach Prep/College Prep course receives 4.875 quality points whereas a student with a 100 in an Honors course receives 5.375 quality points, and a student who receives a 100 in Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/Dual Credit course receives 5.875 quality points.

    • Students and parents need to choose courses carefully. There are guidelines that outline consequences for students that withdraw from a course. Students that withdraw from a course after three days in a 45-day course, or five days in a 90-day course, or ten days in a 180-day course shall be assigned a grade of WF and 0 quality points. The F will be calculated in the student’s overall grade point average.

    • There are also rules that apply to retaking courses. If a student earns a D or F in a course, the course may be retaken in the same academic year and no later than the next academic year. Both the D or F earned, and the grade earned in the retake will be figured in to the overall grade point ratio.

    • Different rules apply to poor performance on Carnegie unit courses taken prior to ninth grade. Be sure to check these rules through your local school.

    • The formula for figuring Grade Point Ratios (GPR) is sum (quality points x units attempted) divided by sum of units attempted.