Fort Bend ISD’s Board of Trustees voted to change the district’s class rank policy at its meeting Dec. 16.

Under the revised policy, which goes into effect for students currently in the eighth grade and younger, FBISD will rank students’ GPAs in accordance with the campus their street address is zoned for.

This means that students who attend academies, or any other program of choice, will no longer be ranked against the school they attend, but instead the one they were originally zoned to attend. FBISD’s academies are housed at designated campuses throughout the district but are open for anyone in the district to apply for and attend.

One example that was often brought up during the board’s discussion about the new policy is Dulles High School. Dulles houses the district’s math and science academy. Proponents of the policy change say it will prevent students who attend the academy from taking all of the seats in the top 10%.

“Take the math and science academy, that’s, I think, where 90% to probably 100% of the top 10% are probably all kids in that academy,” FBISD trustee Dave Rosenthal said at the Dec. 9 meeting where the board discussed the policy change. “So, if you are a student that is zoned for Dulles, you don’t have a chance, and that’s not right.”

Before the board voted on the change, FBISD Superintendent Charles Dupre said while the percentage fluctuates from year to year, academy students regularly occupy more than half of the top 10% seats at schools with academies.

Four FBISD parents spoke at the Dec. 16 meeting against the policy. These parents and community members raised equitability questions and argued that students should be ranked at the campus they attend day-in and day-out against their peers. They also questioned how the changes would affect schools’ state accountability rating, as well as graduation logistics such as what school will be reflected on their diploma, and what happens when valedictorians and salutatorians are from academies.

However, Dupre said the board's solution best honors the intent of the state’s top 10% policy, which aims to give students from diverse backgrounds equal access to top universities.

The unanimously approved policy change also restricts students’ class rank from appearing on their transcript and being known to them unless they are in the top 10% of their graduating class. The state of Texas only requires that students in the top 10% have class ranks. District officials said students’ ranks can still be accessed if it is needed for a particular college application.

Dupre said this change will benefit students, especially those on the district’s most competitive campuses, who may have a high GPA, but given the competitive nature of the campus may not have a high class rank.

“Many of the more competitive high schools and districts in our state have taken on this practice of not ranking the top ten because universities do have alternative means of evaluating students for admission," Dupre said at the Dec. 9 meeting. "For those children that have very high GPAs in a very competitive environment this opens the door for them to have broader consideration.”

Dupre said the board will continue to develop administrative policies to support their decision moving forward including graduation logistics and UIL extracurricular participation. Additionally, he said current eighth grade students still have the opportunity to accept or reject their academy acceptance now that they know about the policy change.