The District 225 Board of Education approved two policies affecting grade point averages (GPA) and implementing a new accelerated placement program for the 2025-2026 school year, Ryan Bretag, Director of Teaching and Learning, said.
At their Sept. 23 meeting, the Board of Education sanctioned Policy 6:281 GPA, which states that at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year classes known currently as “Honors” will remain on the 5.0 grade scale, but will hold the name of “Enriched Honors.” Under this new policy, South will slowly introduce new core-level honors classes titled “Accelerated Honors.” Instead of being weighted on the 5.0 scale, these classes will be weighted on a 4.5 scale.
Additionally, the second policy, Policy 6:135 Accelerated Placement Program, aligns with the Illinois State law, The Accelerated Placement Act, that was passed in July 2018. This act states that any student that is meeting or exceeding on a state assessment should have access to the next rigorous level. These classes will allow students to take more challenging courses while seeing a boost in their GPA, Bretag explained.
“We will phase in the new Accelerated Honors level with the Class of 2029,” Bretag said. “A small number of Accelerated Honors courses are offered each year for the Class of 2026-2027, but these would all be courses that previously received a 4.0.”
The Accelerated Honors courses are designed for students who would like to increase the rigor in their coursework, but feel as though they are not ready to take a traditional Honors or Advanced Placement (AP) course, Bretag said. In order to qualify for these classes, students have to meet or exceed standards in their current standard level classes, he explained.
“In reviewing districts around us, many of them had three tiers,” Bretag said. “It was to our students’ advantage to offer the same opportunities. For this reason, we reviewed the rigor of our courses as part of the state-required Accelerated Placement Act.”
New Trier High School and Stevenson High School have similar programs within their curriculum, thus placing both the district and students in line with the other schools in the area, Principal Dr. Barbara Georges explained.
“There [were] students who didn’t historically have access to an Honors Level course,” Georges said. “The level of rigor in their classes [now] didn’t give them a 4.5, only a 4.0. [Now, our students will [see the same] benefit.”
