My daughter is a junior in a very small rural school. Her graduating class will be 23. They offer no AP classes so she takes a regular load of Dual classes including summer in order to build her GPA and rigor. The school is horrible about communicating. I requested her transcript and GPA this year so we can track progress and it was missing two semesters and was scored wrong. She took dual enrollment US history and the GC put her in the regular version. She now says the DC class wont count. Perhaps I am wrong, but it sure seems like the GC is stacking the deck against my daughter to keep her out of the top 10 percent. Daughter is visiting a major college today so we needed to know her current GPA. GC says it is 3.42 on a 5.0, but I know this is very wrong. She has 3 B (one was Jr High Spanish) and two in a college course. Rest are A and she has 7 Dual classes and more in progress! Im at my wits end trying to reason with someone who wont even follow their own written policies!
First, don’t worry about today. It is just a visit. I would suggest that you layout in detail first the method of calculating a GPA at her school. Next show her class history with Classification grade and GPA points. Lastly show the math to calculate the GPA. Once you agree on the first two parts, the last is arithmetic.
I wouldn’t worry about class rankings. With a class size of 23, it is meaningless.
Oh I know today is a visit. In Texas top 10% are guaranteed admissions. It further opens up alot of State scholarships.That’s the thing, I keep showing flaws and new ones (and unwritten rules keep popping up). I asked about PSAT and they weren’t even gonna have it until I asked. Then the counselor says Daughter shouldn’t even attempt ACT until her senior year. She has so many credits she could graduate this year but I’m against it. Should I involve Superintendent at this point? This year the Seniors have already had incomplete / incorrect transcripts sent and I don’t want to be in that boat next year. Lastly I wish I could show their GPA method because it changes from 4.0 to 5.0 and by the handbook should go as high as 6.0…It seems like the GC tosses what she doesn’t want and weights however she feels like.
Before you start arguing about her GPA you first have to agree on the methodology. Think about it as a logical proof. The final statement it therefore her GPA is X. Keep the emotions out of it.
You were smart to do your research ahead of time, especially with a ton of money and auto-admits on the line. I would first make sure you understand the methodology, but absolutely escalate to the principal or superintendent. You’d think with only 23 students in a grade they’d be able to keep things straight.
Ugh. Sounds annoying. You will need to be very organized. I actually would want to sit down with the GC and the principal. Having the transcripts , and the schools own written policies, meet with the GC - and one other person (for accountability this GC sounds disorganized). Preferably the principal or whoever is the leader there. I am in agreement with you, I would not just sit back and hope things get better next year. It’s not adversarial at all- you are curious and want confirmation/ info, blah blah.
Agree 100 percent. They hate parents who get involved, but I cant afford to let my child’s future be left to chance or shoddy work. Ive used their supposed method and she should be a 4.11 or higher giver the 6.0 possibilities I found in their own rules. If I wait until next year she will end up missing deadlines. Because I caught the first mistake they are having to resend the seniors from this year!
Write it all down Document your D’s GPA based on the school’s own methods. Document every meeting and phone call. If it is not resolved after escalating it to the highest level in the district (superintendent? school board?), you might have to get a lawyer. First just have the lawyer send a letter. If the transcript is not corrected after that, you might have to sue.
Goodness, I’m so sorry to hear of such troubles. Thank goodness you are getting a head start on this. I agree that it is time to go a level up, principal or superintendent. I wouldn’t go all out on your initial communication but start with the GPA, ask for the calculation methodology in writing, and go from there. In the meantime yes, keep organized notes of when the GC is going against their written policies, you will probably need that moving forward. I can’t understand what motivation the GC would have to keep your student out of that 10%] (aside from the fact that they are clearly bad at their job); you’d think it would look good for the GC to have some good acceptances and scholarships!
A lawyer isn’t going to help. This is NOT a legal issue.
Old timers here will recall my issues with the calculation of weighted GPA at my kid’s HS. The formula was wrong. Let’s just say…I couldn’t even get them to give me the formula they were using. I went to the head of guidance, and then the principal. My kid was taking AP and honors courses with great grades and her weighted GPA was lower than her unweighted. Um no…not right.
I just kept at it…I was fully prepared to go before the school board asking for an explanation. That should be YOUR next step as well.
The other thing I was able to do was give my kid’s transcript to guidance offices at six other schools. In all cases, they computed the weighted GPA to be higher than the unweighted. I should add…those weights and unweighted GPAs were NOT the same from school to school…but weighted was consistently higher.
So…get your evidence…get your kids transcripts. Start with the head of guidance. Then the principal. Then the superintendent. Then the school board. My guess is you won’t ever need to get to the school board.
It sounds like a glitch in their formula for DE students…
I should probably mention my suspicion of motives. This town is in ranch country and everyone is related, except us. We moved from a bigger area. You work hard to find many without three degrees of separation. One of the poorest districts in the nation. D has worked so hard to excel and chase external options and to have someone toy with that is horrible. I’m no scholar, but there’s no way for a student with her grades to have the GPA shes coming up with. Honestly I believe they are picking winners.
@thumper1 Of course a lawyer will help – if it comes to that. Especially given the additional information the OP just provided, that everyone knows everyone. There’s no law about how to compute GPA, but there are laws/regulations about top 10% getting into UT Austin and equal access and thwarting equal access, I would imagine.
You don’t need a lawyer yet. It’s the beginning of junior year. But you should keep at it until the GPA makes sense. My school had some vague language that only “academic” courses counted in the GPA. If I removed all my younger son’s orchestra courses I calculated a GPA lower than what the school had. If I added all of them back in it was higher. I didn’t get the same number when I only add the ones from the arts honors program either. Since it was tenths of a point - I ended up not worrying about it - though he was one kid away from being in the top 5% of his class.
Because you are in Texas, I understand your concern, but top 10% of a class of 23 may not be possible. Does Texas have any say in how schools do the calculations? I think I like CA’s approach better which if I understand it correctly is that they take your GPA and weight it themselves under a uniform system.
I wish, but its all up to one person who is in a position to pick winners. I am waiting for next week to call the foul, but I expect more drama. I only ask that her GPA show her hard work. If they need to put someone in the top two I can live with that, just don’t cheat my child by fudging her GPA. Its bad when you know the kids in a class and know for certain your getting a raw deal. Shes gonna graduate with just shy of an Associates degree but somehow that does not count?
I would gather “evidence”…like her transcript from her Community college and report cards.
I would go up to the head of the guidance department first. With schools try to go through the chain of command.
If that doesn’t work go to Principal and then Board of Ed. But start with Head of Guidance.
Is there even a “Head of Guidance” in addition to the student’s guidance counselor in a school where the graduating class is 23?
When did this student take these dual enrollment courses? During the school academic year? Or during the summer? Were they at a community college or were they online? Were the courses used to satisfy high school graduation requirements or were they additional courses.
Who registered this student for these courses…and who paid for them?
I know these seem like silly questions…but where I am, the ONLY dual enrollment courses that count in the GPA are those which are used to satisfy high school graduation requirements, and are enrolled by the school.
Students can take CC courses in the summers, and online BUT these must be approved PRIOR to taking the courses if the student wants to use them to satisfy HS graduation requirements.
ETA…one of my kids had six university credits (actually from the university where he eventually went to undergrad) that were taken in the summers. All A grades. They were not included in his HS GPA because they didn’t satisfy any HS requirements for graduation.
BUT he was required to send the transcripts from that college to all of the places where he applied.
Your daughter will also be required tosend her transcript to all of the places where she applies…so the colleges will clearly SEE her college DE grades.
I know you want an auto admit to the Texas colleges…but really even kids outside of the 10% DO get admitted. As noted above, in a high school with 23 kids, your kid would need to be 1 or 2 in the class.
Her college classes will be noted by the adcoms, even IF they are not on her HS transcript. Where I am, they would only be on the HS transcript IF they satisfied HS graduation requirements.
“Students can take CC courses in the summers, and online BUT these must be approved PRIOR to taking the courses if the student wants to use them to satisfy HS graduation requirements.”
It works this way here, too. Online courses also fall under that rule - have to be approved in advance and used to satisfy HS grad requirements. I have yet to hear of any case among the people I know where the school was willing to approve CC courses or online courses either. That doesn’t mean kids don’t take them, just means it doesn’t count for HS GPA or on the transcript.
It is the same at our high school. Dual enrollment classes need to be authorized by the high school ahead of time to count as high school credits. The high school only uses one specific college and the classes/books are free from the college. You need to go through the school dual enrollment guidance counselor and the college dual enrollment coordinator. Anything else your on your own and still need to do a traditional high school schedule. The classes can be electives but your still required to fulfill all your high school graduation requirements.
Even with the specific college summer classes are not always included. If your doing all dual enrollment sometimes a summer class is allowed then 1 less class is allowed during the year which I guess is funding related.
Sure high school kids can pay for and take courses anywhere but the high school will only count approved classes towards high school credit. There is also a virtual high school and it works the same way.
I thought it was the top 6-7% that received the auto admits from UT? That would mean ONE person from this class, or maybe two.
You have no way of know if the current #1 and #2 also have high GPAs because of dual enrollment or just high grades at the high school. Your daughter’s gpa may be 4.1 using the correct formula, but these other students also may go up.
It is frustrating, but make an appointment and get the GC to give you the formula, and ask why she has to repeat the US history course if she’s already taken it.