As a new resident to Texas, I've notice that the report card isn't asscoiated with a grade.

90 - 100 excellent
80 - 89 good
70 - 79 fair
below 70 failing

How would you figure GPA on that scale?

90-100 = 4.0
80-89 = 3.0
70-79 = 2.0
60-69 = 1.0 failing

This is if your on the 4.0 scale. Many districts do different things.

HaHa! Welcome to Texas...You need a BA in accounting and a staff of six lawyers to figure out all the loopholes and extra credits..and by the time you get it figured out the TEA has re-rigged everything again...

thats unless its an AP or Honors course which would add 1 point to each.

lol, you can have a great GPA and not even come close to cracking the top 10% because AP classes are weighted different. dont you just love it!

I recently learned how my son's high school assigns a letter grade to a numerical grade. He gets a numerical grade on report cards. This does not take into account any weighting for Honors or AP classes.

90-100 = A
80-89 = B
75-79 = C
70-74 = D
Below 70 = F

I was surprised that there is only a 5 point span for a C.

My son just dropped out of the top 10%, with a 99.99% average.

KD ~ I've had several students graduate from KHS as Texas Scholars with 4.5 or better GPA's and not be in the top 10%.

Something's just not right with that.

you have to respect the student athletes who maintain their grades as well as all the sports, practices, private lessons, etc. My son is currently in the top 8%. It seems the kids above him do nothing but study.

Another problem we have is loss of students. My son's class lost 60 students between Christmas and now. School expects his class size to drop even more by the time he gradutes. So what really sucks is he works hard, raised his GPA last semester by a few tenths of a point only to lose ground in the class ranking.

Do other schools experience this reduction in class size? School officials say we live in a mobile area. Seems like most are mobile out of the district.

screwball, that is exactly why GPA is over rated. yeah maybe some of the elite schools take GPA consideration but for the average student going to an average college, GPA doesnt matter. that would be my case. the problem is some schools and some scholarship oportunities rely to heavily on GPA.

i can understand using GPA as a reference. Its the whole class rank thing and confuses me. All class demographics are not the same. Why punish some kids because they happen to live in a district with a large population of kids who would rather study than anything else.

I have even heard of parents moving to certain school districts just so the kid can graduate in the top ten.

quote:

Why punish some kids because they happen to live in a district with a large population of kids who would rather study than anything else.

That's a bizarre quote to me. Studies are first, everything comes in second behind that. At least in our house. As an example, at Texas Tech you can get a $20,000 Scholarship for being in the top 10% and getting a 31 on your ACT. Now if you can earn that and swing a bat, now you're talking! The rankings are hard to keep up with, the AP classes are weighted (as they should be), but you get to keep what you learn a lot longer than you get to keep anything else.

The problem comes in when schools name classes AP but don't truly prepare kids for the AP test.

ok stan, maybe the quote sounds strange but please explain how with all the various student demographics and various student populations that the 10% rule is fair. why can a kid transfer to a school that may not be as challenging and make the top 10%?

screwball: I agree that the 10% isn't fair (even though I fall comfortably in it). Having said that, usually, and I stress usually, a kid that goes from a harder school to an easier school doesn't automatically fall in the top 10%. The school previously attended might have caused his/her gpa to "fall" (more meaning, kept it from being as high as it would be if he/she would've attended the easier school to begin with) due to the difficulty.

My problem with the top 10% rule...

Let's say I go to Collikar High School and am on the path to graduate #1 in my class. I get to apply to the University of Texas and I am accepted due to my class rank.

TBirdDad goes to Jesuit High School (just an example)takes more challenging courses, makes better grades, but doesn't land in the top 10% due to the number of brilliant minds at the school to begin with. He doesn't get the opportunity to attend UT, even though he's been more challenged and is academically exceptional.

Where's the logic?

If your kid happens to be in a high school that also has an IB (International Baccalaurate, sp?) program,like mine... well you just totally forget about that top 10% thing even with good grades in AP classes. However, I have two in college who received good academic scholarships, but weren't in the top 10%. Just depends on how picky you are about the college you want to go to.

Screwball - We are in the same situation. Son actually moved up a couple of spots in the ranking - but about 50 kids have dropped out of his class since May. As a result he has slipped down to the next quartile. Kids at the top of the class don't drop out. It's the ones on the bottom who most likely will not graduate or have just lost interest.

quote:

Originally posted by collikar:
but doesn't land in the top 10% due to the number of brilliant minds at the school to begin with. He doesn't get the opportunity to attend UT, even though he's been more challenged and is academically exceptional.

Where's the logic?

my point exactly

quote:

Originally posted by Redhead:
Screwball - We are in the same situation. Son actually moved up a couple of spots in the ranking - but about 50 kids have dropped out of his class since May. As a result he has slipped down to the next quartile. Kids at the top of the class don't drop out. It's the ones on the bottom who most likely will not graduate or have just lost interest.

what school if i may ask?