MARSHALL — A change to a Minnesota state statute took place over the last legislative session in regards to the postsecondary grade point average weighting policy, and Marshall High School and the school board are looking at options for next school year to become compliant.

The change made to state statute 124D.09, the postsecondary enrollment options act, now says that, “A school board must adopt an identical policy regarding weighted grade point averages for credits earned via postsecondary coursework as it gives to credits earned via concurrent enrollment coursework.”

The high school currently has both Advanced Placement (AP) and concurrent enrollment programs, along with PSEO (Postsecondary Enrollment Options) classes. Up until this past fall, AP classes have been weighted, while concurrent enrollment and PSEO had a consideration of approval process for some classes to be weighted, not all.

The high school began weighting AP classes in 1999, College in Schools (CIS) classes in 2008, and the option for weighting select PSEO courses began in 2017.

“This law change requires equal weighting of concurrent enrollment classes, we call that CIS, College is Schools, and PSEO courses,” Marshall High School principal Brian Jones said at the school board meeting on March 17. “That went into effect for the 24-25 school year.”

Weighted grades are an additional half of a grade point, and apply to classes that the high school has labeled as more rigorous and difficult. This allows a student to take advanced, more challenging classes with lesser worry of hurting their grade point average.

Come 2008, MHS then began partnering with Southwest Minnesota State University and their concurrent enrollment program, along with other postsecondary institutions.

From 2017 up to this school year is when MHS and the school board put in place the process to determine which specific PSEO or CIS classes would be eligible to be weighted.

“Not all have been weighted over the years. One example of that, of a course that has not been weighted, was when we were at MATAC (Marshall Area Technical and Educational Center) and we worked with Minnesota West on the welding program,” Jones said. “That was a production course, and so the grades in that course received the same weight as other grades at Marshall High School, and not weighted.”

With the statute change detailing that school boards must create an identical policy for postsecondary and concurrent enrollment, Jones said they were aware of the change and believed they were in compliance. A recent meeting with the Department of Education decided that Marshall Public Schools needs to revisit its policy on weighted grades.

“Mr. (Jeremy) Williams (Marshall superintendent) and myself had some meetings with the Department of Ed., with Minnesota School Board Association and district legal counsel, and essentially the Department of Ed. said they felt like our interpretation of identical weighting was incorrect,” Jones said. “We now need to weigh all postsecondary classes taken, regardless of where they might be taken at or what class it might be.”

Due to this, the high school is weighing all concurrent enrollment classes, including ones that were not before, along with PSEO classes for the 2024-25 school year. AP classes are automatically weighted. Jones and the school board are now looking at options for becoming compliant with the statute for next school year.

“I think they both [AP program and concurrent enrollment courses] serve their purpose,” Jones said. “We were in an interview today, and the candidate asked, ‘Why do you do both?’ We think that that diversification is really important to have and to continue to have. We want to keep both programs for our students.”

There are three options MHS can adapt.

“Option one is to stay the course and continue to weight [all] classes in our Advanced Placement Program, our concurrent enrollment classes, our College in Schools, and all PSEO classes, regardless of the class,” Jones said.

The second option is to eliminate all grade weighting, which has benefits and disadvantages.

“That might bring us more in line with what many high schools in the state are doing. I would say in weighting grades, schools that weight grades are probably in the minority,” Jones said. “There could be some challenges … We would be concerned about the possible enrollment, that students might choose not to challenge themselves to that level and take some of those most challenging classes that we have (because there would not be an option to weight a more rigorous course).”

Option two could also see an increase in students going the PSEO route, which could have a greater budgetary impact on the school’s budget, along with a loss of course choices at the high school.

The final option is to return back to the model prior to 1999, to weight all AP courses, but not weight concurrent enrollment, which includes CIS and PSEO.

Under option three, there will be the GPA incentive for AP classes and CIS students will still get college credit.

“Advanced Placement students receive college credit if they score generally a three or higher on the national exam, which is administered across the country on one single day in the spring,” Jones said. “Concurrent enrollment students receive college credit based on the work they produce over the duration of the semester. They’re different programs. They have different ways for students to get college credit.”

A few factors that may become apparent with this option is a possible loss of concurrent enrollment, and increase in AP.

“I would say I’ve heard from more people who feel like option three is probably in the best interest of our students, because the Advanced Placement. Just by taking that course, you’re not guaranteed that credit. By taking the concurrent enrollment, if you pass the class, you have that credit,” Jones said. “I think most would say, with Advanced Placement, there’s a little bit more of a risk for students to take those courses, and by weighting Advanced Placement courses, we might still see students choosing to enroll and take those.”

Jones said he is engaging in conversations with the CIS and AP teachers, along with the School Leadership Team (SLT) and Williams to gather feedback. Himself along with the board will continue to consider all options and make a decision prior to the start of the 2025-26 school year.