GS 116-11 (10a) (d) requires: “Consistent and uniform public school course information including course code, name, and description.
The Department of Public Instruction shall generate and the local school administrative units shall use standardized transcripts in an automated format for applicants to higher education institutions. The standardized transcript shall include grade point average, class rank, end-ofcourse test scores, and uniform course information including course code, name, units earned toward graduation, and credits earned for admission from an institution of higher education. The grade point average and class rank shall be calculated by a standard method to be devised by the institutions of higher education.”
SL 2013-360 Appropriations Act of 2013, SECTION 8.19.
The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee shall study the State Board of Education's policy on calculating the weighted grade point average and class rank on high school transcripts
[ see GCS-L-004 ], especially the proper weights for courses taken through community colleges, independent colleges, and universities.
The Committee shall report the results of its study to the
General Assembly prior to the convening of the 2014 Regular Session of the 2013 General
Assembly.

• Institutions of higher education appointed a workgroup to review issues, develop recommendations
• Membership represented NCDPI, NC
Community Colleges, and UNC system universities
• 4 weeks for review and report development
• Key issues: Is the current system fair? Are changes to the current system warranted?

• Most UNC system universities don’t use class rank within their admissions rubric, or they use class rank on a lesser scale than other factors such as GPA and test scores.
• Class rank remains a required part of the standardized transcript per state law.
• Districts have authority to re-calculate class rank for specific local purposes such as valedictory/salutatory/honors decisions.

• Currently, college courses receive lower weighting than AP/IB courses, which are supposed to emulate college courses. (This is a major concern of JLEOC.)
• Current system discourages interested students from taking un-weighted courses.
– Example of Sid and Nancy

Sid and Nancy are enrolled in the same classes except Nancy has decided to take band as an additional elective. She is being recruited for a band scholarship and wants to improve her chances by enrolling in band every semester to hone her skills. Because band is only worth 4 quality points, her possible maximum GPA is less than Sid’s. If both students made As in all of their courses, Nancy’s GPA would be lower.
Nancy’s Schedule
AP Course – 6 quality pts
Sid’s Schedule
AP Course – 6 quality pts
AP Course – 6 quality pts
AP Course – 6 quality pts
AP Course – 6 quality pts
AP Course – 6 quality pts
Honors Course – 5 quality pts Honors Course – 5 quality pts
Band – 4 quality pts --
GPA = 27/5 = 5.4 GPA = 23/4 = 5.75

• Review of other states in the region shows that weighting is common practice but that NC’s scale skews GPA’s. There is concern about this and the thinking it engenders among students.
• Some independent research shows weighting encourages rigorous courses, but AP/Honors courses generally do not predict college outcomes; College Board research shows it does.
• Complicated issue – many ways to slice it.

• The task force considered several options:
– Do nothing – keep the current system
– Don’t weight at all – use only un-weighted GPA
– Weight all courses (AP/IB/college) equally – adjust the weighting factors for calculating weighted GPA
– Adjust the weighting factors on a more modest scale, similar to what is done in other states
• Weight only those high school courses identified as core
• Weight only college credits/coursework that is generally transferable to college/university

• Change the current system as follows:
– Assign the same weight for college/dual enrollment college credit as for AP or IB
– Narrow the current weighting scale to the following:
• 4 quality points for standard courses
• 4.25 quality points for Honors courses
• 4.5 quality points for AP, IB, and college courses

Contact Rob Hines rob.hines@dpi.nc.gov
919.807.3244