School Changes Course Weighting
Amid considerable parental concern, the GCISD board voted Aug. 14 to make some changes to the weighting of high school courses. The board decided to use course weightings as written in the 2003-2004 student handbook for graduates in 2007 and 2008. For those graduating in 2009 and 2010, course weighting will apply only to advanced placement courses, concurrent courses (college courses taken while in high school) and Spanish III. Weightings given last year for Algebra II will be removed.
Cecilia Schwartz, speaking on behalf of several parents, said the way weightings were currently being done was unfair to students taking the most difficult courses. She said since the 2003-04 handbook, there has been no difference in the weights given courses in the “Distinguished” route and those in the “Recommended,” route. She said top students therefore have no incentive to take the more challenging courses.
Schwartz said trying to set up a four-year plan of course work at GCHS is “like trying to hit a moving target.” She said although parents and students are told that the student handbook is the bible they are to work from, they cannot predict from one year to the next how courses will be weighted. She said students should be bound by the handbook in effect their freshman year. She said there have been more than three changes in the way class rank is calculated since 2003-04. She added that university admission, which is getting harder all the time, is largely based on class rank, test scores and grade point average.
Schwartz also disagreed with Tech Prep courses currently being weighted the same as AP and concurrent classes. She said the Tech Prep course route is supposed to be a six-year plan, entered into as freshmen in high school, designed to prepare students to achieve a skill to help them in the workforce. After high school, these students are supposed to attend a cooperating community college or technical school for two years to complete their training. She said Tech Prep courses taken at GCHS will typically transfer only to Howard College, and will not transfer to a university for academic credit.