The GPA system in place currently accounts for some but not all classes taken by students. The new system is better aligned with other school district’s GPA policies, officials said during an April 28 meeting where board members approved the policy change.
The revised GPA system will begin with the graduating class of 2029, according to the policy.
Current situation
The GPA policy will remain the same for the graduating classes of 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028. A student’s GPA will reflect the first four core courses—English and language arts, math, social studies and science—taken while in high school.
Under the current policy, eligible dual credit, Advanced Placement and other honors classes are categorized and weighted as advanced courses with a 5.0 scale. All other core courses are weighted as regular with a 4.0 scale.
What’s changing?
Under the new policy, all courses taken by high school students will be used to calculate GPA and class rank. This includes core classes as well as courses for fine arts, athletics, career and technical education, and other electives.
GPAs will be calculated with three weights—Regular, Honors and Advanced.
The grade weights by course level are:
- On-level courses will be a 5.0
- Honors courses will be a 5.5
- AP and dual credit courses will be a 6.0
How we got here
Board members discussed the policy change extensively during a March meeting.
The current GPA policy has created issues for students when applying for college and scholarships. High school counselors have been manually calculating some students’ GPAs in order to account for all courses for college or scholarship applications, district officials said.
Changing the policy would give students credit for the rigor in AP and dual credit courses. It would also better reflect student's work outside of core classes, such as athletics and fine arts, officials said.
