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Roanoke County School Board members are considering changing the district's grading policy after a high school student said he and his peers were being put at a disadvantage on college applications.

Right now, Roanoke County students have to score between 94 and 100 on a test in order to earn an A. But some school districts, such as Roanoke, will award an A for scores that are higher than 90, which means it is easier to get an A in the city of Roanoke than in Roanoke County. Roanoke adopted its 10-point scale in April. Before then, students had to score a 93 or above to get an A.

That discrepancy led Hayden Smith, a rising sophomore at Roanoke County's Hidden Valley High School, to contact 100 college admissions officials for a science fair project and ask them what they look for in an applicant. Most said they consider grade-point averages, scores on standardized tests and course schedules, he said.

That suggests that letter grades, which aren't standardized across districts, are vital to an applicant's college chances because they are used to calculate a student's GPA.

At the root of the problem is the dual grading system in American high schools, where students often get both a numerical score and a letter grade on a test. Without a standardized exchange rate, a student who earns a 92 on a test would get an A in Roanoke but a B in Roanoke County.

"Students from Roanoke County are at a disadvantage," said Hayden.

His mother, Abby Smith, said she has been concerned about the tough grading scale for years.

"We have never understood the six-point scale down here and have been complaining about it," she said.

Roughly 44 percent of Virginia school districts award an A for scores between 94 and 100. Those include Roanoke County, Botetourt County, Franklin County and Salem. In Bedford County, a student has to score 92.5 on a test.

At the Roanoke Valley Governor's School, however, students earn an A if they score between 90 and 100 on a test. About 55 county students attend the Governor's School, which brings together students from across the region for advanced classes.

Roanoke County School Board members discussed the grading scale at length during a workshop last week and could vote to change the school system's policy in the next few months. Board member Mike Stovall said he would support moving Roanoke County to a 10-point scale, awarding an A to a 90 or higher.

"Are we hindering our students? I think we are," he said. "We've got to level that playing field."

But David Wymer, another board member, warned of "unintended consequences.

"It could lower expectations for students," he said. "I personally like the six-point scale. We've had it for a long time."

Parent advocates in Fairfax County, by far Virginia's largest school district, recently pushed the school board there to adopt a 10-point scale.

But Fran Kiker, coordinator of counseling services for the Roanoke County public schools, said college admissions officers at Virginia schools are familiar with Roanoke County's grading policy and know how hard it is to earn an A in a county school. Changing the policy would only confuse college officials, particularly at schools that have admitted many Roanoke County students in the past such as the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary or Virginia Tech.

"If we change that, we risk throwing out what colleges know about our school system," she said. "The bottom line is that colleges must have a way internally to level the playing field because school systems have all kinds of grading scales, they have all kinds of ways to weigh their scores."

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