A number of high
schools around the country have decided to eliminate class rankings of their
students. There are a number of reasons for this major paradigm shift from a
decades old tradition of ranking students for college admission. One reason is
that many colleges and universities in the United States have shifted away from
class rank and focused more on GPA and the strength of the high school program that
the student pursued. Those factors plus student performance on SAT or ACT
scores have become more prominent in the decision making process according to
the National Association of College Admissions Counselors.
This decision has been met with mixed reviews from students
and high school teachers and administrators. Students feel that eliminating class
rank relieves them of some of the pressure of having to take the most difficult
courses rather than electives that they would like to take. Those who calculate
rankings in some schools, where students can have a GPA as high as a 5,
sometime would have to calculate to three or four decimal places to get a valedictorian. This takes away some of the burden in the decision process.
Administrators in a number of these schools have noted that
their decision has not impacted student admissions to the most competitive
colleges or the service academies. We have yet to hear the parents weigh in,
especially those who are the “ tiger Moms and who Dads, ” who were pushing
their children to graduate as number one in the class. Only time will tell if this is going to
become a nationwide trend.
c.2016 J. Margolis
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