Starting with the 2017-2018 school year, District 214 is changing its GPA (Grade Point Average) system from a 5.0 scale to a 4.0 scale.

The district is among the last in the area to make the move.

“A survey of surrounding districts [showed that] nearly all area high schools use the 4.0 scale,” Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Marni Johnson said in a letter sent out to parents. “This change… [puts] our scale more in line with educational standards nationwide.”

The higher GPA scale has created problems over the years for most things not directly involving the district.

“Kids who thought that they had the correct GPA did not,” Assistant Principal of Student Services Valerie Norris said. “There were students out there who thought that they were performing better because of the 5.0 [scale] versus the 4.0 scale.”

The conversion will make students’ GPAs more consistent between colleges during the application process.

“Colleges already have a practice of converting our students’ GPAs from a 5.0 to a 4.0 scale using their own variety of approaches,” Johnson said in the same letter.

In the context of the district, however, the change is minor.

“Technically speaking, it’s really just a computer formula,” Norris said. “We’re going to have to obviously make sure that they do a good job of converting so that students’ GPAs aren’t hurt one way or the other.”

In regards to the scale, the only difference is that “the differential between the D and F is reduced on the new scale,” according to a FAQ provided with the letter.

While the changes will be rough at first, the changes will eventually become more normal.

“Counselors are really going to have to talk to students,” Norris said.