New GPA policy promotes equity

In an e ort to promote fairness in the GPAs that students receive, Superintendent Don Austin announced that o -campus courses will no longer count towards a student’s GPA starting next year. Courses o ered by third-party programs like UC Scout will appear on a student’s transcript but be excluded from GPA calculations, while dual enrollment courses approved by PAUSD at Foothill and DeAnza will still factor into a student’s GPA. e Campanile thinks this policy is a commendable step to improve fairness and equity while still giving students the option to take courses beyond what PAUSD o ers. However, we encourage the district to approve more dual enrollment courses to meet student interests in high-quality, rigorous classes that promote in-depth learning.

Many third-party courses are not as rigorous as those at Paly. UC Scout, a UC-approved organization for thirdparty courses, o ers many popular AP classes, including AP Physics C and AP Calculus BC, and it also o ers AP classes that Paly does not, including AP World History, AP European History and AP Microeconomics.

However, according to several students who have taken UC Scout courses, the majority of these courses are easier than ones taken at Paly. All of the classes are virtual, and many of them, like AP Calculus BC, only involve watching recorded lectures. e exams are also taken online instead of in-person. And even though UC Scout may o er classes that Paly does not, students still should not be able to use easier courses to improve their GPA. Services like UC Scout also may not be nancially accessible to everyone. Taking a UC Scout course costs an average of $400 per semester, and for Language Bird, an online organization that o ers o -campus language courses, tuition for a semester costs over $1,000.

In early March, California State Assembly Bill 1314, which would require schools to notify parents if their child identi es as transgender, was proposed by Assemblyman Bilal Essayli. If signed into law, the bill says schools would need to notify parents “within three days of discovering students identify at school as a gender that does not align with the child’s sex on their birth certi cate.” is bill would endanger transgender students by forcefully outing them to their families, and e Campanile urges legislators to vote no on its passage. is bill, along with a March 24 House bill that would require schools to obtain parental consent before honoring a student’s request to change their gender, demonstrates a distressing future for the mental health and civil liberties of LGBTQ students.

Luckily, due to California’s liberal majority in the state House and Senate and the state’s general support of the LGBTQ community, e Campanile sees AB 1314 as unlikely to pass. Still, it is distressing to think that we still have politicians who ese high costs give students who can a ord them an opportunity to boost their GPA, further increasing the academic achievement gap. PAUSD’s decision to remove these courses from GPA calculations ensures an equal playing eld for all students. continue to not understand nor support the LGBTQ community.

Additionally, students who are interested in subjects PAUSD does not o er will still be able to take dual enrollment courses and get o -campus courses added to their transcripts. Approved dual enrollment courses at Foothill and DeAnza have the bene t of having been reviewed by the district, so students are guaranteed a su ciently rigorous experience that promotes learning the material.

For students who are interested in options beyond what dual enrollment o ers, PAUSD’s new policy does not prohibit taking o -campus courses.

Approved o -campus courses can still be added to a student’s transcript, albeit with a cap at four courses.

And while some say this new policy would be detrimental to students hoping to improve their chances in the context of college admissions, dual enrollment and third-party course transcripts have always been submitted to colleges separate from a student’s Paly transcript, even if those courses appear on Paly’s transcript. Most colleges even recalculate a student’s GPA, so PAUSD’s decision does not dramatically change the way students who take external courses demonstrate their interests and academic achievement to colleges.

Essayli claims that his bill will help parents better support their transgender child. In a March 13 press conference, he cited a 2023 NPR study, which found that parental support can help decrease depression in LGBTQ youth.

However, this claim stems from the assumption that parents will be supportive of their LGBTQ child after they come out, which is de nitely a awed assumption. According to a 2016 study led by developmental psychologist and researcher Sabra KatzWise, only one-third of LGBTQ youth received support from their parents while another one-third experienced parental rejection. e nal one-third, according to this study, didn’t reveal their LGBTQ identity until adulthood.

Essayli also says his bill would improve communication between transgender students, parents and schools, improving social and academic success while also reducing the potential for self-harm.

While this new policy is a good one, we also think PAUSD should approve more Foothill and DeAnza courses for dual enrollment to give students more school-sanctioned options for rigorous academic work. Currently, only Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra and some CTE courses are approved for dual enrollment credit, but the local community colleges o er a large selection of subjects that could serve as extensions beyond what Paly and Gunn have.

For example, Foothill College o ers World History and Western (European) History that could supplement Paly’s AP U.S. History. And advanced science classes like ermodynamics and Modern Physics could be approved by PAUSD as extensions beyond AP Physics C. To give students more options in areas they are interested in, the district should make some e ort to expand its dual enrollment selection.

Overall, PAUSD’s decision to stop considering o -campus courses in GPA calculations is an important step toward fairness and equity because expensive programs like UC Scout may not be accessible to everyone and are far less rigorous than Paly or Gunn classes. Students still have these third-party options available, but the easier classes should not count toward GPA calculations. And because districtapproved dual enrollment courses can encourage rigorous and in-depth learning, we urge PAUSD to provide students more options to take dual enrollment courses in areas the district does not directly o er.

Yet this claim once again neglects the reality that many parents may be unsupportive of transgender youth. e threat of parental rejection may even increase the potential dangers that transgender youth encounter in their lives.

For example, a 2015 study published through the Williams Institute examined the results of the LGBTQ Homeless Youth Provider Survey, a survey of 138 youth homelessness human service agency providers. e study found 67% of the agencies’ transgender clients became homeless after they were either forced out of their homes by their parents or ran away because their parents wouldn’t accept their sexual orientation.

Furthermore, the Trevor Project 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found only 32% of transgender youth identify home as a gender-a rming space, while 51% identify school as a gender-a rming space. For students who are not yet ready to come out to their families, AB 1314 would force them to become more closeted at school too, turning both homes and schools into unsafe spaces for gender expression. e bill is based on the faulty assumption that parents will support their transgender child. e Campanile hopes governments at both the state and federal levels will avoid endangering the safety of already vulnerable transgender individuals and instead create solutions that truly protect them.

If the goal of the Assembly Bill really is to improve communication between parents and youth with regard to gender identi cation, it should contain provisions that require better parental support for transgender youth. Some methods could include increasing access to information about LGBTQ teens through schoolsponsored programs and providing counseling services for parents. Once parents become more supportive, transgender youth can be more comfortable expressing their gender identities at home, and improved communication will ensue.

AB 1314 does not protect transgender youth and instead would cause more harm to their well-being.

TEXT BY SHAMSHEER SINGH