The way San Antonio high schools calculate grade-point average — determining how graduating seniors measure up against one another — changes from district to district.

In fact, almost no GPA policy is exactly the same across Texas. Some policies use multipliers, others use eight-point scales, others four-point scales. Districts also assign different weights to different courses, using their own judgment of how rigorous classes are. 

This will change soon with Senate Bill 1191, which requires the Texas Education Agency to develop a standard way of calculating GPA, giving similar weights to similar courses. 

While the current world of grade-point averages is unruly, most districts give more weight to advanced academics than on-level courses and reserve the titles of valedictorian and salutatorian for the two highest-ranking students based on GPA. 

In most cases, if a student earned all A’s in their courses but they were all on level, that person would be outranked by a student who took more advanced courses.

Districts diverge in intricacies of policies, changing the game for the most competitive students who want to maximize their chances of getting into a prestigious college.

In Texas, most public universities automatically accept the top 10% of a high school’s graduating class, determined by GPA. As class rank policies stand, the surest way to get into the top 10% is to take as many advanced placement courses as possible and earn good grades in them. 

In most San Antonio districts, AP classes weigh more than dual credit courses. School officials say this is because AP courses are more rigorous and are regulated by the national College Board. They are more likely to be accepted for college credit nationwide. Dual credit is typically regulated by local universities or community colleges. 

While dual credit often provides a smooth transition for students who choose to stay in their hometowns or states for college, saving them thousands of dollars on tuition, it’s not usually accepted by out-of-state universities or Texas’ most selective public institutions. 

The different weight officials typically assign to AP and dual credit “discourages the taking of dual credit courses in many school districts,” wrote former Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Lubbock), who authored SB 1191 during the 89th Legislative Session last year. 

Outside AP and dual credit, some school districts offer courses labeled “gifted and talented,” “college-level” or “honors” that don’t translate to college credit but usually weigh more than on-level classes and less than AP or dual credit.

Meant to level the playing field, SB 1191 requires school districts to treat AP, dual credit, and college-level courses the same way. The new rules would affect students enrolled in seventh grade by the 2027-28 school year.

GPA policy in Alamo Heights

The different weight that school districts have freely assigned AP and dual credit recently upset some parents in Alamo Heights Independent School District, a small district located in one of San Antonio’s wealthiest enclaves. 

Alamo Heights ISD recently launched an early college program in partnership with St. Philip’s College at its lone high school, so the school board made adjustments to its GPA policy, which applies to the 2028 graduation cohort and beyond. 

For the 2028 cohort, the GPA policy assigns a 1.13 multiplier to AP courses, 1.1 for most dual credit and advanced academic classes and 1 point for on-level courses. These points are then multiplied by a student’s semester average, and the average of those scores is largely what determines class rank.

In April of 2024, the school board voted to increase the multiplier for dual credit U.S. History and dual credit psychology to the same level as AP because school officials determined the classes were equally rigorous. 

But on Oct. 1, after students had already selected their semester courses, the board reversed course, taking those two courses back to a 1.1 multiplier. 

“The board revisited the decision after the district identified inconsistencies in how the April change had been reflected in published grading documents and discovered that the intended follow-up communication did not reach all affected families,” explained district spokesperson Julie Matonis.

On Oct. 2, high school principal Cory Smith apologized to families and gave affected students until Oct. 13 to request course changes.

Only four students submitted course-change requests during that window, but the policy changes were enough for at least one AHISD parent, who asked not to be named, to say they filed a grievance. 

Some parents felt the policy reversal could affect the district’s economically disadvantaged students, who may not be able to afford AP exam fees. Dual credit and enrollment don’t typically come with extra costs. 

The College Board and the state do offer reduced fees for economically disadvantaged students for AP exams, and Alamo Heights ISD offers extra scholarships opportunities, but for the most part, families are responsible for exam costs. 

Matonis said most high school students don’t constrain themselves to just one avenue of advanced academics, including students in the early-college program. Those students often sign up for AP and OnRamps, a widely used dual-enrollment program run by the University of Texas at Austin.

Maximizing grade point averages

In San Antonio’s larger districts, high-achieving students are similarly taking advantage of both AP and dual credit.

To keep students’ options open, Northside ISD and North East ISD often offer “stacked” courses that are simultaneously AP and dual credit. 

“When you stack them, you can provide more opportunities,” said Jerry Woods, assistant superintendent for high school curriculum and instruction at Northside ISD. 

While it’s difficult to compare student preference for AP over dual credits since many take both, officials say there’s a general preference for AP. 

NISD has around 10,500 dual enrollment students through partnerships with the Alamo Colleges District, and last year, the district administered over 20,000 AP tests. 

Choosing stacked courses or AP over dual credit isn’t possible for every core subject, said Woods. “There’s a few courses that are only dual credit because they don’t have an AP counterpart. For example, college algebra that can only be offered in dual credit.”

North East ISD has historically offered more AP courses than dual credit, said Celeste Lafuente, who works in the district’s department of strategic school improvement overseeing learning support services. But the district has been working on expanding dual credit offerings. 

The challenge had been in finding teachers who are certified to teach dual credit, Lafuente said. “Now we’ve partnered with some of our local community colleges to have teachers from the local community colleges be the dual credit teacher.”

Both Northside ISD and North East ISD weigh most dual credit courses below AP, citing the academic rigor. 

Northside ISD scores AP courses on an eight-point scale and dual credit and honors courses on a five-point scale. North East ISD, like AHISD, uses multipliers, assigning a 1.15 multiplier to AP and 1.08 to dual credit. 

This school year, Woods expects to make a policy change recommendation to Northside ISD’s board that would standardize how advanced courses are weighed. 

Lafuente said North East ISD officials are still considering how to change the GPA policy. 

NEISD changed its policy several years ago to be more in line with other districts. 

“We lowered our multiplier quite a bit just to be more in alignment with the state of Texas,” said Lafuente. “So that when our kiddos do start applying for colleges, there is not a huge weight discrepancy.”

Other school districts will likely be in the same boat and adjust their GPA policies before the 2027-28 school year starts. 

Even though SB 1191 is supposed to put advanced academics on equal footing, the bill doesn’t apply to career and technical education dual credit courses, which more school districts are offering to get ahead of new high school accountability requirements. 

The law also leaves room for a school district to designate whatever weight they want for honors courses. 

While GPA policies change from district to district, most school officials acknowledge that it can be cutthroat for students vying for spots in the top 10% of their graduating class. Both Woods and Lafuente said there are instances where students pick classes with the aim of maximizing their GPA. 

“We do see that students are trying to challenge themselves to take courses with a higher multiplier,” said Lafuente. 

But to really take advantage, students have to score high enough on their advance courses to get the most out of the added weight, which can backfire if students can’t keep up with the added expectations. 

“It’s obviously competitive because you have your major universities only allowing a certain percentage,” said Woods. “If you’re going to take them and not do well — you don’t want to put yourself in jeopardy either.”