All dual credit courses at Naperville North High School will be on the weighted grading scale beginning the 2024-2025 school year.
Last spring, the District 203 Board of Education held a meeting that approved dual credit courses to receive a weighted grade for the 2024-2025 school year. According to NNHS Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction Kira Mocon, the decision was made to help students’ GPA reflect the difficult coursework in dual credit classes.
“The fact that students are earning that college credit in high school is a big deal and we want to make sure students have that shown in their transcripts,” Mocon said.
A dual credit course allows students to not only earn high school credit, but also earn college credit on a college transcript. NNHS partners mainly with College of DuPage (COD) to offer the dual credit course selections. Currently, there are 26 dual credit classes for NNHS students, ranging from subjects such as business, math, world language, technology/engineering, agriscience and family and consumer science. Even though all of these courses have now become weighted, there has been no change in the curriculum of the course. NNHS business education teacher Jason Reid details why NNHS was able to choose if the classes were weighted but could not change the curriculum of the course itself.
“We are guided by the college that we have the dual credit relationship with, so the dual credit requirements, the objectives and everything else comes from the college so it’s the same as if the student was actually at the college,” Reid said.
According to multiple faculty members, a rise of interest in dual credit courses is expected in the coming school years. However, NNHS College and Career Counselor Brian LaPorte warns students that they should consider the amount of coursework that comes with a dual credit class before taking it.
“Dual credit is a double-edged sword. It’s a great opportunity for students to have access to college credit, but it is a lot of work and a bad grade in the class is a bad grade on your college transcript,” LaPorte said.
While some students who have taken dual credit courses in the past are frustrated they didn’t have the weighted option in the past, other students have only gained more interest in dual credit courses. NNHS junior Lexi Krumdick, who has taken a non-weighted dual credit course and is enrolled in a now weighted dual credit course, shares her opinion on the shift.
“It’s kind of disappointing because they didn’t change the curriculum at all for these classes and now it’s just weighted. So, I did the same work but I just didn’t receive the same credit,” Krumdick said.
The change to weighted grades entices students to take dual credit classes in order to set them up for success in the future. Naperville North junior Sarina Shah discusses why she thinks students should consider taking a dual credit class.
“Dual credit classes are great because they give you preparation for college and save you a lot of money in the future, because you have the opportunity to bypass some of your courses, and it gives students a really great opportunity to do this by making it weighted,” Shah said.
