How do you all "scale" transfers students numeric grades when they come from another school where the grading scale is different. For instance our school says that anything between a 70-74 is a D, however if a student comes in and has a grade of 72 which is considered a "C" do you add points to the grade to be inline with your grading scale. The only other way around this would be to set up other grading scales and set up the transfer course with that grading scale? (what a pain as then you have a slew of "other courses" which becomes very cumbersome).

We are on a numeric grading system, so we convert all letter grades to a numeric grade. We have set up transfer courses and enter them as we need them and then simply convert the grade to a number grade and put it in. If the credit awarded is different than ours, then we adjust it to match the transfer transcript -- it is very simple! Setting up a transfer course is very easy and you use the same ones over and over, so once you get started, it isn't difficult at all! I would be happy to send you an example if you like...

Thanks and we use the same process for letter grades. The problem is in the numeric to numeric and how it hits the translation tables for GPA equivalents. If a 72 is a C for one school based on their grading scale, but is considered a D for ours, we have to add 4 points to make it a C on ours. This is very important in calculating GPA's on a 4.0 scale where any thing in the A range is a 4.0, B-3.0, C=2.0 and a D = 1.0 only. This is more critical in Georgia as we send these numeric grades to the HOPE scholarship and they use our numeric grading scale to define the GPA equiv. Students have to have a 3.0 or better to qualify for state funded college tuition. It's kind of hard to explain in a post, I am just trying to avoid creating all types of translation tables based on different schools grading scales, if they sent it to us in letter grades this would be easy,but it the numeric is the problem.

I get it -- we do the opposite. We convert all transfers based on our scale and make it part of a transfer student agreement that they sign when they enroll. It also states that all weighting for honors/AP is based on our scale, not the previous schools... It makes it so much easier. For some kids it will help them and for others it will not. I don't think there is a perfect way to convert it. You can't change their grade or alter their credit.

Thanks,that is a very good procedure, but does not solve the problem we have with accurate reporting for Hope Scholarship. This goes outside Blackbaud stuff, but can you not change the grades to reflect the differences in grading scales even if you have a document indicating this? If not, then that brings me back to the creation of translation tables to insure accurate reporting of GPA equivalents.

I see your problem -- we don't have that issue so luckily we don't have to alter their grades. My best advice is to check with your accreditation agency to see what procedure they want you to follow for altering the student's grades to match your scale. I'm sure they would just require you note it somehow so no one is misled by the change. For example, they have a 72 and that is a D at your school, but a C at their old school. I would change the grade to the lowest C you have and then put a note in transcript notations that the student's grades were alterd to match your scale.