Running Head: ESTIMATING GPA WEIGHTING PARAMETERS Estimating High School GPA Weighting Parameters with a Graded Response Model

The high school grade point average (GPA) is often adjusted to account for nominal indicators of course rigor, such as “honors” or “Advanced Placement.” Adjusted GPAs—also known as weighted GPAs—are used widely for computing students’ rank in class and in the college admission process. Despite the high stakes attached to GPA, weighting policies vary considerably across states and schools, with little empirical justification. We discuss the suitability of the graded response model for estimating GPA weighting parameters on a latent scale, and demonstrate how to transform the latent-scale parameters to a conventional GPA scale to inform GPA weighting policy.