A common struggle with Honor/Junior Honor Society groups is what GPA to establish as the minimum for membership. For charter members of NHS and NJHS, a 3.0 GPA minimum (or equivalent... see handbook for more details) is required. Local chapters can then adjust through their bylaws a higher standard if desired. There are a variety of reasons that cause schools to adjust their GPA. Some will take a higher GPA since it matches their graduation honors' system, or for schools that see a high percentage of students with stellar GPA's, they may increase the minimum to manage the size of the chapter. Whatever a school's reason is, the adjusted GPA must be part of their local bylaws.

In a recent consultation with a school in northern Michigan, a student was just shy of the minimum GPA and the parent argued that this baseline GPA (this school had a minimum of 3.4) excluded good kids and that everyone should be invited and the Faculty Council should decide each case individually. The National Honor Society was not put in place for "good kids", it was developed for exceptional kids. Schools that struggle with this concept or take a lot of complaints can always establish additional recognition programs for students that don't aren't invited into NHS/NJHS yet are still "good kids". Groups such as a "Scholars Club", "Academic Excellence Group", Honor Roll and other such groups can sometimes offer students an opportunity to belong, whether or not they are part of the school's NHS/NJHS chapter. We have seen some schools even disassociate from the NHS and NJHS, changing their name from Michigan High School NHS to Michigan High School Honor Society (or Honors Club, etc...). Schools that are not members of NHS/NJHS do not need to maintain a minimum of a 3.0 GPA and could explore having an even lower requirement. Keep in mind, however, that schools unaffiliated with the National office will have no Constitutional backing, no support from NHS/NJHS and very weak legal ground to stand on should a parent/student take the school to court.

However, in Michigan, we have found that the standards are high! In a survey done in 2004, MASC/MAHS compiled data from 105 schools - 8 middle schools, 96 high schools, and 3 schools that fell into an "other" category (schools that were middle through high school, or elementary through high school, etc...). Of the 8 middle schools, 5 of them had a minimum GPA of 3.5 established, only 1 had the 3.0 GPA maintained from the NJHS Constitution. Of the 96 high schools, only 12 were at the 3.0 mark. A startling 71 of the 96 schools (74%) had GPA requirements that fell in the 3.3 to 3.5 range! There were also 2 schools that used a 3.6, and two more that used a 3.7 minimum! The survey also showed that the more students enrolled in the school, the higher the GPA, which makes sense if you look at strictly a numbers game. Of the nine schools surveyed that had 250 or less students enrolled, six kept the national minimum. Schools with 251-1,000 students found their comfort zone at 3.3 and higher, and schools with over 1,000 students had the strongest connection to the 3.5 minimum GPA. (View the attached PDF file at the bottom of this webpage to see the actual survey results, which also includes data on service hours pre and post induction.)

Most advisers, in our communications with them, are attempting to increase their GPA, not decrease it. Take some time to reflect on your membership base and your school to determine the right place for your chapter. A chapter is only as strong as its members. The question is, how strong are your members?