4.2.6 Middle and High School Grades

Middle and High School Grades

A student earns 5 credits for every course that they complete with a grade of “D” or better provided they attended the full semester or transferred to a new school with “grades in progress” from the former school.  There may be courses designated by the school that are less than 5 credits.  Most of these are courses that meet for only 9 weeks or meet for fewer hours each week. 

A high school student may not take more than 45 credits per semester.  Appeals for exceptional circumstances should be addressed to the principal.

All schools may assign variable credit, also known as partial credit, to those students who do not fulfill or complete the requirements.  The variable credit is based on the number of minutes in a class to a one-credit ratio.

SFUSD uses letter grades as follows (SFUSD Administrative Regulations 5121):

Letter Grade Percentage Grade Point Equivalent
A 90 - 100% 4.00
B 80 - <89.9% 3.00
C 70 - <79.9% 2.00
D 60 - <69.9% 1.00
F 50 - <59.9% 0.00

The letter grade for each class has the grade point equivalent assigned as per the above chart.  At the end of the semester, a Grade Point Average (GPA) is automatically calculated for each student by multiplying the grade points by the number of credits attempted for the course, totaling the grade points, and dividing by the total number of credits attempted. 

Example:

Course Letter Grade Grade Point Equivalent Multiply by Credits Attempted = Grade Points
World Lit. 1 A 4.0 5 = 20.0
Algebra 1 C 2.0 5 = 10.0
PE 1 C 2.0 5 = 10.0
TOTAL     15 = 40.0

40 (total grade points) ÷ 15 (total credits attempted) = 2.66 (GPA)

 

See the full Handbook and downloadable, translated PDFs at sfusd.edu/Handbook.

This page was last updated on August 16, 2023