A new weighted grading system for Lawrence high school students is sort of grade inflation by design.

The system was adopted by the Lawrence school board in 2000, but this year’s graduating seniors are the first to see the effect of weighted grades on their high school transcripts. The impact is especially important for students applying to colleges and perhaps seeking scholarship assistance.

Under the system, certain classes are worth more than others. Grades in advanced placement courses are inflated to reflect the difficulty of the work. An A in an advanced placement course is literally worth more grade points than an A in a less difficult course. The points raise a student’s overall grade average, thereby making his or her transcript more attractive to prospective colleges. The grades are used only for college applications and scholarships, not to determine local school honors such as class rank.

It’s hard to argue that students who pursue advanced courses shouldn’t get additional credit, and Lawrence certainly isn’t the only city that has approved such a system. However, it raises questions about how grades are interpreted by colleges when an A is no longer just an A. One may be worth 4 grade points while another is worth 4.5 or more.

Maybe schools have all this figured out, but when colleges are dealing with applicants from across the country, it seems they might encounter many different systems for weighted grades. Although the goal is to produce a grade-point average that gives good students an advantage, there would seem to be a danger that those averages would become less meaningful because they aren’t easily compared.

There has been considerable concern in recent years about grade inflation. An A once signified truly exceptional work, and a C really was average. Because that no longer is the case, maybe it makes sense to create a system that awards the equivalent of “super A’s” to top students taking difficult classes, but the whole grading system seems to be losing some of its meaning. It’s little wonder that standardized tests, which are a less subjective more standard measurement, are an important factor for most colleges.

Lawrence wants its high school graduates to be able to compete for spots in top colleges, and weighted grades probably will further that goal, but the more schools fool around with grading systems, the less meaningful those measures seem to become.