On Tuesday night, Cherokee High hosted a GPA/ Transcript information session open to parents, guardians, and students to help address the most common questions and concerns regarding credits and course numbers, to grades and GPAs.
Mr. Ingham, Assistant Principal and leadership over curriculum, opened the night and introduced the event’s hosts, Ms. Tracy Tuck and Ms. Amanda Von Shilling, counselors over the Freshmen Academy.
“We had a lot of great information to share and a pretty good turnout!” said Ms. Tuck. Approximately 50 parents were in attendance.
Transcripts were already printed and available for students and parents to review while listening to the presentation.
“This is the first time most freshmen have seen or received a copy of their transcript,” said Ms. Tuck. “We addressed how grade point averages (GPAs) are calculated, how class rank is determined, how colleges view weighted and unweighted grades, what the course numbers mean, and what the NCAA accepts or does not accept.”
Additionally, other topics, such as attendance and credit recovery policies were addressed.
Students and parents were introduced to the support staff available for counseling, college information, and overall support for academic success at the outset of the presentation. This information will be included here as well.
One of the important topics addressed is how CHS provides an NGA or “numeric grade average” on transcripts rather than a GPA. This means, the students will see an average from 0-100 rather than a GPA (a 0.0-4.0). Ms. Tuck provided a link to help students convert their NGA to a GPA using this GPA calculator. CHS transcripts provide both weighted and non-weighted averages. Classes with higher weights are generally Honors or Advanced Placement courses.
GPAs are often used for many colleges in their admissions requirements, as do many scholarship opportunities, such as the GA HOPE Scholarship, which offers up to 90% of tuition coverage for qualifying students and the Zell Miller, which covers 100% of tuition.
The HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships, however, only consider final grades made in core classes: math, science, English, social studies, and foreign languages. The GPA requirement to qualify for HOPE is a 3.0. The Zell requires a 3.7. Most colleges, however, will take into account the GPA from all classes taken, and colleges differ as to whether they accept the weighted or non-weighted average.
Ms. Tuck reminded students that each semester is worth a half credit (.5) and that students must have 23 credits to graduate, which is earned by taking six classes per semester. Credit cannot be earned with excessive absences without an approved attendance waiver, or in situations such as if students failed the course or if a state EOC Milestone was missed.
The night provided valuable information for all students and parents. Anyone with questions is encouraged to speak to their counselor. The contact names have been provided below.
CHS Counseling Staff (last names of students served)
Ms. Tracy Tuck 9th (A-M)
Ms. Amanda von Schilling 9th (N-Z and ESOL)
Ms. Gayle Cuomo 10-12th (A-Ch & DE)
Mr. Chris St. Vrain 10-12th (Ci-J) Lead Counselor
Ms. Sonia Murillo 10-12th (K-P)
Ms. Holton 10-12th (Q-Z)
Email: firstname.lastname@cherokee.k12.ga.us
Counseling Office:
Ms. Wendy Wemmer
Follow counseling news on Twitter at @chscounsdept and on Facebook!
Parents and guardians can also receive a copy of their transcripts by going to www.parchment.com. Please see counselors for questions.
THE WARRIOR WORD 