The change in grade point average would affect current sixth graders, said Amy Harp, FISD’s managing director of academic programs, during a March 4 meeting. Changing the GPA weights was only discussed by the board of trustees and district staff, and no action was taken by the board.
The gist
GPAs are currently split into three tiers:
- Tier 1 is a 5.0 and includes on-level courses.
- Tier 2 is a 5.5 and includes dual-credit, advanced courses, Career and Technical Education courses, independent study and mentorship, and academic decathlon.
- Tier 3 is a 6.0 and includes Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.
- Tier 1 would a 5.0 and include on-level courses.
- Tier 2 would be a 5.5 and include advanced courses, Career and Technical Education courses, independent study and mentorship, and academic decathlon.
- Tier 3 would be a 6.0 and includes Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and dual-credit courses.
“We want students to leave Frisco ISD with college credit,” she said.
District officials met with the Superintendent's Student Advisory Council, which is made up of four students from each high school campus, and is meant to provide feedback on campus initiatives and procedures. The student committee had the majority of its members agree with weighing AP and dual-credit courses equally, according to the meeting’s presentation.Some context
Advanced Placement courses, also known as AP, allow students to earn college credit at the end of a course if they pass the end-of-course exam. Courses are open enrollment, with any student able to take the course. FISD will offer 33 AP courses in the 2024-25 school year.
"[Advanced Placement] is tackling college-level work at the high school level,” Harp said.
Dual-credit courses are college courses taken at the same time as the high school course, Harp said. Courses are offered through Collin College and UNT at Frisco. Students pay the college a course tuition, which ranges from $152-$225, and instructional materials are estimated at $100 per course, Harp said.
There are 77 academic and technical courses offered through Collin College and eight online courses offered at UNT Frisco.
FISD students took 3,419 dual-credit classes in fall 2023, according to the presentation.Why it matters
Many students will not go to college after high school because of the financial impact for families, said Stephanie Cook, FISD’s managing director of guidance and counseling services. Dual-credit courses can help students save thousands of dollars in getting a degree, she said.
“I really do see this as a student opportunity to allow them [to earn] college credit and not be discouraged from making that decision because of the costs that it is for them,” Cook said.
Stay tuned
The proposed change will be brought back to the board of trustees in April, FISD’s legal counsel Esther Kolni said. It was brought before the board in March to allow for greater public transparency about the policy change, she said.
“That is intended to allow for greater transparency, given the weight of this type of policy change, and to allow the public to be involved in the decision-making process for this kind of change,” Kolni said.
