Student Well-Being

Maryland Weighs Minimum GPA Standard for Student-Athletes

By Bryan Toporek — November 23, 2011 1 min read
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The Maryland state board of education is currently considering whether all high school student-athletes should be expected to hold a minimum GPA of 2.0, in response to a state law passed earlier this year.

The law, passed in May, requires the state board to report back to the General Assembly before the end of the year with specific recommendations about minimum academic requirements for high school student-athletes.

Those recommendations were not required to include a minimum GPA, however.

Currently, Maryland school systems must only “establish standards of participation which assure that students involved in interscholastic athletics are making satisfactory progress toward graduation.”

In response to the new law, the state school board formed a Committee on Minimum Standards for Participation in Interscholastic Athletics, which reported back to the board last month with three main recommendations. The first of those recommendations was the suggested minimum GPA.

“I think maybe it is time to rethink” the academic standards, said school board member Donna Hill Staton, according to

A version of this news article first appeared in the Schooled in Sports blog.