What you need to know
Trustees approved an update to the district's rank-in-class policy July 18, allowing for more courses to be factored into these calculations. Prior to this approval, only English, science, math, social studies and language courses were included in calculations for class rank. Additional weight is also given to advanced courses.
Under RRISD's policy, class rankings will be calculated separately from grade-point average. A student's GPA will be calculated using an unweighted 4.0 scale, and it is possible that a student may have a higher GPA rank thank their rank-in-class. This is a circumstance that was also included under the previous version of the policy, district documents show.
The details
The following courses will be considered in class rank calculations unweighted:
- English
- Science
- Math
- Social studies
- Languages other than English
- College Board AP courses
- International baccalaureate courses
- University of Texas OnRamps courses
- Any advanced courses leading to an opportunity for students to earn college credit
- Talented and gifted courses
- Advanced languages—other than English—at level II or higher
- Courses at a higher level than AP and IB
How we got here
Trustees previously considered the policy in 2022, but tabled it for further action to allow district administrators to have more time to communicate the potential of these changes and their impact to students and their families.
At the time, trustees expressed concern that the change in policy might influence student decisions on whether or not to take a course based on weight for class ranking calculations. Trustees voted July 18 to approve the measure as part of its consent agenda, and did not further discuss the matter.
