District staff presented the update and information behind it to the board, and was met with concern from Place 4 Trustee Cory Vessa and Place 6 Trustee Tiffanie Harrison.
Harrison said she would rather give district staff additional time to communicate the potential change in policy to parents and incorporate feedback. Vessa expressed concern that the inclusion of some courses for rank in class consideration, such as newspaper or broadcast journalism, without weighting them would effectively "kill" those programs. She said this is because at the grade-point average level, there is only a very small difference between being in the top 10% and top 50% of students, making weighted courses more valuable.
"There was feedback from the counseling team at one school, that this will be detrimental to a lot of the programs that they have," Vessa said. "Anybody interested in getting in the top 10%, top 6%, top 10 would never take those courses ever."
Other trustees echoed similar concerns, such as Place 7 Trustee Danielle Weston, who said she has heard her own children and their friends discuss whether or not to take a course based on whether it is weighted. She referenced a previous change to the class rank policy in 2018 that went through a similar process where the community was given time to learn about the possible impacts and effectively "buy in."
"It came to the board for a vote, and then we moved on with life," Weston said. "So I'd like to kind of learn from that experience, apply it here."
The policy proposed to the board would have broadened courses taken into account for class rank. They were proposed to impact the graduating class of 2027, which will enter high school during the 2023-24 school year.
As of now, Round Rock ISD students' class rank is based on core classes—English, science, math, social studies and language. Additional weight is also given to advanced courses.
Proposed changes to the policy would have grown the list to include University of Texas OnRamps courses, any advanced course leading to an opportunity to earn college credit, talented and gifted courses and courses beyond the advanced placement of International Baccalaureate level.
Additional information regarding the proposed policies is available on the district's website. The board did direct staff to return with the proposed change once additional student and parental input is taken and incorporated into the changes, essentially delaying it by another year at minimum.
