The Texas Education Agency allows each public and accredited non-public high school in Texas one “Honor Graduate Certificate.” This certificate shall be presented to the highest-ranking graduate in the senior class. Under no circumstances should a student ranked lower than “highest” be awarded this honor. The highest- ranking graduate should receive a certificate and a declaration document authorizing the president of any state-supported college or university to provide a waiver for tuition as specified in the law (TEC § 54.301). Some non-state-supported colleges and universities may also recognize this award and provide the tuition waiver. Students should present the declaration document to the college or university upon admission and retain the certificate for personal use.
The recipient of this honor must:
- be enrolled in a minimum of three consecutive calendar semesters prior to graduation and meet state and school attendance requirements;
- be graduating under the Recommended, the Distinguished Achievement Plan, or the Foundation HSP, Distinguished Level of Achievement;
- be the highest-ranking graduate with the highest grade point average (GPA) of all students meeting the aforementioned criteria (In determining grade point average, under no condition will the GPA be rounded up.); and
- have taken and passed all state End- of-Course (EOC) assessments.
All calculations for this honor will be conducted at the end of the spring semester (before graduation) each school calendar year. An eligible student must have attended at least one of the calendar semesters during the school year that the honor is granted.