Frisco ISD changes Course Grade Weights

Image Courtesy: Frisco Independent School District

By Rajkamal Rao

The 2019-2020 Frisco ISD Course Catalog has an important update for students who are currently in the 8th grade and will graduate in 2023. See pages 20 and 21.

Currently, students taking Pre-AP and other designated courses attract a GPA bonus similar to AP courses - that is, on a scale of 6.  In fact, Frisco is the only major school district which treats Pre-AP and AP courses as being the same level of difficulty. This is bizarre because any student will tell you that the rigor in AP courses is markedly higher than Pre-AP courses.

Starting the class of 2023, the only courses which will attract a 6.0 bonus will be AP courses. Pre-AP and other designated courses will be demoted to a 5.5 scale, in line with dual credit courses.

This makes sense. Most other school districts, such as Plano, Coppell and HEB ISD were already doing what Frisco is proposing with its 2023 class.

So, how will this affect the computation of the weighted average GPA? Students who will graduate from high school before 2023 will, on average, have a higher weighted average GPA because of the 0.5 point Pre-AP bonus. This will vanish starting the 2023 graduating class.




Because weighted average GPAs are only used in the computation of the class rank, which is a relative measure within a graduating class, this change will have no material impact to any FISD student.

Takeaway

FISD is finally embracing Course Grade Weights which make sense. But students have to wait until the 2023 graduating year for the changes to apply.



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