Texas parents -- new class rank legislation update

<p>Looks like tomorrow we'll get some clarity. There's a link inside the story that details what will be counted under the proposal: [url=<a href="http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/education/index.html%5Dstatesman.com%5B/url"&gt;http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/education/index.html]statesman.com[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>I wish all states would adopt a uniform policy for weighing AP, Honors, etc, classes.</p>

<p>I do think it would help. I'm all for some standardization but didn't like they way this one was looking early on. I'm much happier with this draft, though I still have unanswered questions.</p>

<p>I read through the list of classes that will be counted but I didn't see Economics, which I thought was a required 1 semester class for all Texas high school students. Anyone know why they left out this class or did I miss seeing it?</p>

<p>I assumed that was the class called U.S. Govt that counts for a half-credit.</p>

<p>One semester of Econ is required by state law. I bet they just forgot about it (one semester of Government is also required).</p>

<p>Do they really only count TWO years of a foreign language in the GPA? Seriously? But only if it's in the same language? Does that mean that if you take Latin and bomb it, you can just take a different foreign language in 10th and 11th grades to get the F in Latin wiped clean?</p>

<p>Hey, just noticed that Health and PE aren't included in the GPA calculation (although required by the state of Texas.) Poor Gym and Health teachers....they have a hard enough time getting the kids to be motivated in their classes....now they can do poorly and it won't even matter!</p>

<p>Also, no credit in GPA for Communications Applications, a one semester state required speech class.</p>

<p>Very interesting to have classes required to graduated in the state of Texas* not *count toward the GPA.</p>

<p>The list of what counts adds up to 22. 26 credits are required to graduate. Most kids leave with 30-32. So do you get to choose which 22 credits count? Let's say that due to taking a HS math and science in 8th grade (which looks like they will count toward the GPA), you end up with 5 years of science and 5 years of math. Can you choose the best 4 out of 5, or is it the first 4 out of 5? If you can only count one senior year AP course (in the "College Prep Electives") and you get a 98 in AP Physics and a 78 in AP Stats, who chooses whether to count the 98 or the 78?</p>

<p>If you have 4 years in choir and misbehaved 3 of those 4 years, do you get to choose to count your 100, or do you have to count on of your 75s for your one fine arts credit?</p>

<p>Oh, it looks like they aren't counting any of the classes required to meet the Technology requirement.</p>

<p>You know, you could have a much better GPA freshman and sophomore year if you could blow off your assignments in health, speech and multimedia to focus on your core classes! (Only in jest....it would work as long as you wanted to go to a state school; bad move if you sent your transcript anywhere else.)</p>

<p>I thought that was odd about two years of a language, too. I thought you had to have three years to graduate, so why not count all three? Or is that just S's school?</p>

<p>Well, if you look at the way the math is constucted it, you have to count Alg I, II and Geometry and then it sounds like it's student's choice. S1 will have pre-cal, BC cal, Differential Equations and Stats by the time he graduates. I would think he just chooses the one in which he gets the best grade???</p>

<p>I think they should count all the required classes. Why have them as "required" if they aren't important enough to count. I would also like to see them increase the years of a foreign languge. I don't know if this is a state-wide thing but my S's school tries to encourage 3 years of a languge by making it part of a "distinguished achievement program". </p>

<p>I am really glad the State is trying to work out a system for this. Our school board has spent way too much time on this issue and and has changed the requirements for every graduating class.</p>

<p>Seems like for the purpose of applying to schools, you would need to count the 9-11th grade classes. Additional years of foreign language are included in the 3.5 "College Prepatory Electives" but so much else is, too. If you have regular German III and AP Euro, you're going want to count the AP Euro for the extra weighting. Most students will end up with a lot more than 3.5 credits in the "College Prep Electives Category" - who does get to choose?</p>

<p>Note the very first phrase on page one: "The methodology for calculating a uniform GPS for public university admissions...." This does pave the way for schools to have one method of calculation for State school top 10% and another for everything else. But if they do that, they would have to make it very clear....who is the Val if the computations end up differently (which they likley would)?</p>

<p>Missypie, local school districts may continue to use their own GPA calculation methodology to calculate internal class rank, valedictorian, etc. This calculation, according to the state law, is solely for use in calculating the top 10% for Texas public university admissions. </p>

<p>Mandated by the legislature since they wouldn't do anything about the top 10% rule and they thought they'd throw the suburbanites a bone. But for the life of me, I can't figure out who will benefit from this crazy GPA proposal!</p>

<p>My guess is the THECB is cussing the legislature under its breath.</p>

<p>They're pretty much admitting that Health, PE, Speech and the Tech class...and I guess Economics...are not core academic classes, if they don't count them in the GPA. If the state doesn't think they're worth counting in the GPA, why does the state require them?</p>

<p>I still think the credit limit/3 1/2 credit College Prep Electives category is going to cause lawsuits, unless the rules are very clear. If you got a 95 in (regular) Spanish III in 10th grade and a 95 in (weighted) AP Euro in 11th grade, you would certainly want the weighted 95 to count instead of the unweighted one...but if your 3 1/2 credit basket is "full" by 11th grade, are you hosed?</p>

<p>Here is a real life example. Son had Algebra I in 8th grade, then Geometry, Algebra II and PreCalc (all regular - unweighted). That is his 4 math credits. But he also took AP Comp Sci last year, which the state counts as a math credit. So in the same school year, he has math credit no. 4 and 5. Can we be guaranteed that the weighted points for AP Comp Sci would be put into his GPA instead of the unweighted points for Pre-Cal? What if, even with the extra weight, you would get more points for a regular class (e.g. a 78 in AP Bio but a 98 in Astronomy). If the "default" is to the AP class, your GP would be lower.</p>

<p>These are good observations - esp. regarding the College Prep credits. Maximum 3.5 credits from from "one year (two semesters)"? huh?</p>

<p>I guess everyone's comments show that it's about as clear as mud. Will families now become more cautious about letting their kids take high school classes in middle school? For example, if a kid takes algebra in 7th or even 6th grade and gets an 80 (or anything less than a stellar mark) it seems like that grade will count towards high school gpa/top10%. Can a bad grade in middle school ruin a kid's chances for top 10% admission?</p>

<p>They do need to be careful about middle school grades. Of course, as it stands now in our district, the middle school grades don't count in the school-calculated GPA, but they do show up on the transcript (so they are there if the school recalulates GPAs.)</p>

<p>Report on today's meeting:
Compromise</a> offered on Texas student GPA plan | Top stories | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle</p>

<p>In our district, middle school grades do count towards someone's GPA so I guess this varies?</p>

<p>Our district counts MS grades, too.</p>

<p>Heard they have postponed voting on the proposal until January or possibly a special meeting in December.</p>