Oakland Unified could scrap “D” grade to boost college admissions

In an effort to boost college admissions, Oakland Unified is considering changing its grading scale to get rid of D letter grades, Oaklandside reported Monday.

D’s count as passing grades for classes at many high schools in the district, according to Oaklandside, but the University of California and California State University systems require a C or higher for the A-G course sequence. This is a set of 15 high school courses that cover history, English, math, science, a language other than English, visual and performing arts and a college preparatory elective. A student who receives a D on an A-G required class can get a diploma but is disqualified from admission to UC and CSU colleges.

District officials are working to get a preliminary plan for the grading scale change to the school board for approval by March so that it would go into effect for the 2022-23 school year, according to Oaklandside.

One of the scenarios the district is considering is defining any score below a 70% as failing — which would force students to do summer school or some other credit recovery to make up for the grade in order to graduate. Another option is lowering the C-grade threshold from 70 to 65, Oaklandside reported. Anything less than that would be marked as “incomplete” and require credit recovery.