Texas Move to Tighten GPA Formula Sparks Backlash

Some fear proposal would discourage students from taking rigorous classes.

Texas is working on a formula that all high schools would have to use to calculate students’ grade point averages. But it is encountering strong resistance from educators who fear it could discourage teenagers from taking challenging courses.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board , which oversees public colleges and universities, is expected to vote on the proposed rule at its Oct. 23 meeting. But the public-comment period leading up to the decision has been rife with opposition.

Raymund A. Paredes, the state’s commissioner of higher education, is leading the development of the new rule. He is responding to a law passed in June 2007 by the state legislature, which directed the board to develop a single formula for calculating high school GPAs “to ensure a uniform standard for admissions” by...