Grading by choice

I came back from the meeting today thinking about how I can change grading in my class in order to improve communication to the students and the parents. I checked my email to find to message regarding this same subject. A student wrote, "i would like to find out if there is anything i can do in your class to improve my grade. if there is please write me back i would greatly apreciate it." I received an email from a parent of another student that said, " mr. holman I am trying to see if there is a way for her to earn extra credit or something to help raise her grade in math." Is there a need to change the way in which we grade or is there a greater need to change the perception of what a grade means?