GPA Frequently Asked Questions

Unweighted GPA is calculated using all courses taken for state high school credit, including courses taken for high school credit in middle school; however, these courses do not receive any additional weight and are calculated using a standard 4.0 scale. 

The school board determined that changing the GPA policy that students began high school under was not in the best interest of all students, and that students should finish high school under the policy in place at the time that they began their ninth-grade classes.

Weighted GPA is used by Keller ISD for internal purposes such as rank, graduation honors, and National Honor Society eligibility. The weighted GPA compares students in the same graduating class at the same campus. While it is also used in the college application process, most colleges recalculate GPA to their own specifications upon receipt of a student's application. This is so they are able to cross-compare applicants from different districts and states, due to the extensive range in GPA policy and scale utilized across the country. It is not uncommon to see students on a 4.0, 5.0 6,0, or even 9.0 and 100-point scale, so colleges standardize GPA once they receive applications. What courses the college utilizes to recalculate this GPA is dependent on each individual university.

A student with a GPA of 5.7 is not looked upon more favorably than a student with a GPA of 4.2 in a different district unless the districts share identical scales.

When students apply to colleges for scholarships, counselors are asked to provide a GPA and clarify the scale used and whether the GPA is weighted or unweighted. This provides perspective so that they do not make a blind judgment on the number alone, but are able to put it in context. Most scholarships, however, request the GPA as unweighted, as the standard 4.0 scale is used more widely to calculate unweighted GPA. 

Acceleration is a personal choice and the decision to pursue that endeavor must be made by evaluating the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of the student. Universities and colleges continue to use rank as only one metric in the massive algorithm of admissions and merit-based opportunities. Although still reviewed by many colleges, class rank has declined in significance as many private and religious schools have eliminated student ranking. There is a belief that rank is the most important factor, however, current trends reveal that a student with a more diverse education portfolio is just as likely to be admitted and receive scholarship opportunities as peers who exclusively pursued only the most rigorous courses. Additionally, The College Board states, "A student's grades in college-preparatory classes remain the most significant factor in college admission decisions.

Highly selective colleges look for students who:

• Complete core academic requirements; 
• Take more challenging classes, even though they may have slightly lower grades than they would achieve in lower-level courses; 
• Enroll in several college-prep or college-level courses (such as AP®) and perform well; and
• Take four years of a world language, showing evidence of academic discipline and challenge.

All student weighted GPAs will change as a result of the reversion to the old policy. Rank, however, depends on more than just the success of a single student, but rather is also dependent on the success of other students in the same graduating class. Rank may change from semester to semester under any single policy and cannot be predicted in advance.

Yes. Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year all PreAP®  courses will be renamed Honors. This is a change in name only and does not affect the curriculum, rigor, or GPA weight attached to the course. 

All levels of a course, if included on the course list, count towards weighted GPA. To add clarity, we have provided further detail and renamed the course list the “Cohorts 2023 and 2024 Weighted GPA Course List” and this name change will be reflected in the KISD 21-22 Course Guide. 

For example, a student that takes Honors Biology in ninth grade and then chooses to take AP® Biology in 11th grade will have both courses count towards weighted GPA, since Biology is part of the course list.

When the district reverted back to the policy that was in place when students entered their freshmen year, the policy for the classes of 2023 and 2024 indicates that two levels of the same language other than English will count towards GPA.  Student information systems house student grades and calculate GPAs based on the parameters found in the policy.  The system cannot differentiate foreign languages in the exact way described in the policy so the system counts all foreign language grades for levels I and II towards GPA. Students who take more than two years of a foreign language may have more grades feed into the GPA calculation than others. Only levels I and II of world language credits will be factored in, but a student may have taken Spanish I and II, and then went on to take ASL I and II. In this example, all four courses would factor into the weighted GPA. 

Yes. AP® Human Geography counts as a World Geography credit and therefore is included on the list of courses that count towards weighted GPA for all graduating classes. 

Per Keller ISD Board Policy, courses that are transferred in from out of district receive weight so long as there is an equivalent KISD course. For example, Keller ISD does not offer Honors US History and, therefore, if a student transferred in with this credit, they would be ineligible to receive Honors weight for the course. However, a student that transfers in from an IB school may still receive weight for their courses, depending on if an equivalent KISD course is offered. 

Keller ISD assigns additional GPA weight to honors and AP courses based on the chart above.

We understand that these changes may require students to adjust course selections. Each campus will work with students and parents to ensure that their course selections reflect the intent of the policy. Due to staffing needs at each campus, change requests had to be submitted on the Course Change Request Form by 4 p.m. June 17. This form was previously emailed to families on May 25, but has been re-linked here for your convenience.  

A change request for the 2021-2022 school year will ONLY be granted if the course selected during registration is impacted by reverting back to the previous GPA policy.  If an elective is chosen for a course to add, students will be prompted to provide an alternate course in the event that the chosen elective course may be full. All requests will  be reviewed by the campus counselor prior to approval/denial of request. The request requires both a student and parent signature.