More input needed before eliminating class rank in District 204
Indian Prairie School District 204 board members seem to support eliminating class rankings of students next school year, but want more input from students and parents.
The board plans to make a final decision Dec. 6. Under the proposal, class rank would be replaced with a Latin honor system commonly used in colleges that recognizes students in different categories based on their grade point averages.
The top category, summa cum laude, would honor students with a GPA of 4.5 and up. Last year, 14 students in the district would have been honored at that level, making it an elite group, Linda Rakestraw, assistant superintendent for secondary leadership services, told board members Monday night.
Sailesh Venkatraman, the parent of a high school junior, said the board the new system should apply to next year's freshmen. Otherwise, he said, it's unfair to students who have been competing for the valedictorian honor.
Venkatraman likened doing away with class rank to doing away with timing events at a track meet. If athletes can win a race based on a hundredth of a second, why can't students compete in a similar way academically, he asked. “Why are we differentiating challenges?” asked Venkatraman. “There is always a different standard for sports and academics. Every time we have different challenges applied, students lose motivation.”
Board member Alka Tyle agreed that it might be best to implement the changes for next year's freshman class. “I'm struggling with changing the rules in the middle of the game,” she said.
Board member Christine Vickers said she would like to hear from students who have been working toward earning the top spot at graduation. “I don't want to rip the rug out from under kids who are in the system and working for those positions,” she said.
Other board members agreed with the staff recommendation to do away with class rank, recognizing that about half of schools nationwide have already done away with it.
“We have heard that we're late to the dance,” board member Mark Metzger said, adding that the district needs to do what is best for the most students when it comes to college admissions. While college admission offices tend to look at all aspects of student achievement including essays, extracurricular activities, ACT scores and GPA – class rank could hurt students in a district like 204 because so many students are high achievers. Last year, 11 percent of its high school students had a 4.0 GPA or higher, meaning a student could have earned straight A's through high school and not be in the top 10 percent.
Beside the summa cum laude honor, others proposed in the Latin honor system include magna cum laude, for a GPA of 4.2-4.49; cum laude, with a GPA of 4.0-4.19; and Indian Prairie Scholars, recognized with a 3.6 and up.