Fine Arts Group Opposes GPA Plan

Career and technical educators have already expressed their concerns about a proposed new method of calculating a uniform high school grade point average. As reported earlier, the Coordinating Board will consider the plan from Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes on October 23.

The proposal places a premium on such courses as advanced placement and dual credit, but does not similarly reward many career and technical fields. Now educators in the fine arts are also concerned that their disciplines will not attract students if the classes are not worthy of a boost in GPA. If high school kids don't study the fine arts, it is less likely they will pursue these fields in college, many educators say.

A recent article in the San Antonio Express News highlights the opposition of the Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education to the new plan.

From the article:

Commissioner Raymund Paredes is proposing adding an extra, weighted point to Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and dual credit courses. He would give no extra weight to pre-AP or pre-IB courses, which he says lack uniform standards.

Paredes also suggests including only “academic” courses in the GPA calculation, so many fine arts and career and technical education courses would not count toward a student's final GPA.

“By my very nature I support the arts,” Paredes said. “We just want to make sure we focus on the courses that get students ready for college.”

His recommendations will not be final until after a public comment period that runs through Oct. 6.

And:

Already, Robert Floyd, chairman of the Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education, said he is perplexed by the suggestion that many arts courses be left out of the computation.

“I certainly hope the members of the board do not want the state of Texas to go on record as the kind of state that fails to recognize that the study of music and other fine arts is an academic course of study,” he told a committee of the Coordinating Board last week.

The Coordinating Board's site for comment is available here.