The weighted grade conversation in the Hopkins School District has reached some resolution. Starting this year, students who take AP classes will have their courses weighted on a 5.0 scale.
This change, alongside a few others, was made to the district’s “credit for learning” policy 620, unanimously approved in the first read by the board at the Sept. 29 meeting. Second reading approval is expected to occur at a future meeting. The decision was made as application deadlines for many colleges are approaching, a tricky time for many Hopkins seniors and staff alike. What will be possible with the policy for current seniors will be clearer as the school year continues.
The policy change will be a costly one for the district. The policy is estimated to cost the district around $100,000 in staff time, including correcting previously unweighted AP course grades for current students and working out additional challenges. An estimated 41,000 grades will need to be changed, with many nuances in the changing process that will make it time-consuming.
Staff warned the board that changing all of the grades in time for transcript deadlines will be “a very challenging timeline to meet,” regardless of whether they looked at a student’s prior history of AP classes before senior year or only worked on changing senior year grades. However, second-edition transcripts could be sent out to those institutions.
According to district policy, the weight will only apply to students earning a C- or higher in the AP course. While current student grades will be recalculated with the additional weight, including from years past, previous Hopkins graduates would not see modified transcripts or records. Weighting would not apply to College in Schools or Postsecondary Enrollment Option classes.
The discussion over whether to enter into a weighted-grades system has been ongoing since 2025. Last April, a potential policy was even on the table. However, the district paused the conversation and sought more feedback, including from new staff members, like High School Principal Emily Lilja Palmer and Superintendent Michael Thomas.
School Board Clerk Sara Wilhelm Garbers was one of several board members who were disappointed with the slow-moving nature of the policy change since it was first discussed.
“Now we’re telling a whole other group of families and students and community members that we can’t move forward again for another year. I hear you in what you’re saying and I’m also just really frustrated that we’re failing our students and we’re failing our families,” she said.
Board Treasurer Rachel Hartland said many of the questions they were discussing at the meeting had already been asked previously.
“I remember asking for person hours. How much time might this cost? Is that possible? And not really hearing back and I just really share this frustration,” she said. “$100,000 I don’t take it lightly to say I don’t care about that, because of course I do, but it’s far less than 1% of our budget. We have technological partners. We are not the first district to be in this exact space, to be under a time crunch.”
One of the reasons the district was considering weighted grades had to do with the changing landscape in college education. Due to being in an unweighted system, some students were missing out on scholarship opportunities or additional financial aid.
Nearby schools that use weighted grades include Minnetonka, Wayzata, Edina, Chanhassen, Jefferson, Kennedy, DeLaSalle and Benilde-St. Margaret’s; Eden Prairie, St. Louis Park and Providence Academy do not.
Retroactive weighting
One of the many discussion points was whether or not to go back and reweight grades from current students who had taken AP classes before this school year.
Thomas also discovered that weighting to some degree had already been occurring in some Hopkins AP classes. He warned the board that could potentially lead to double weighting.
To note those historical grading practices, administration would have to connect with staff. Administration would also have to double-check whether the classes were registered with the College Board, and decide whether courses that were both AP and honors applicable would be eligible for weighting or not.
Student Board Representative Manuel Wahyu, Hopkins High School student and a supporter of the policy change, said, “If the intention is to help as many students as possible, I think that’s the most compelling reason and that’s why we should go retroactive.”
Administration was directed to prioritize the senior class’s transcripts, followed by juniors and the other high school students to be figured out this summer.
Other challenges
One fact highlighted was that AP classes at Hopkins High School are disproportionately taken by white students and those students would be disproportionate beneficiaries of the policy.
“I think we can have a conversation about our disproportionality in taking AP classes. That’s kind of a whole another can of worms that we haven’t opened up,” said Jennie Zumbusch, the district’s director of research assessment and improvement.
Wilhelm Garbers argued that the courses would not harm students of color, but could recruit more students of color into AP classes.
“This is one of the most challenging conversations to have because we’re talking about what’s good for our students and what’s good for our students, and there are going to be second or third order effects either way,” Thomas said.
He wanted the board and the community to keep in mind that any barriers students may face will still exist regardless of the policy change.
For more information, visit hopkinsschools.org/district/school-board.