District 200 may drop class ranks

Incoming freshmen in Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200’s two high schools may not have to worry about class rank beginning next fall.

Assistant Superintendent for Operations Bob Rammer told the school board Wednesday that the traditional measuring stick for academic achievement is based on outdated theories, mainly the bell curve, a long-used standard that assumes scores cluster around a central mean.

“It’s based on an old paradigm and an old ideology,” he said. “Its inception was certainly serviceable but we believe today it’s not only a disservice to students but, in many cases, it’s harmful to them.”

An official vote will not be held until next month. During Wednesday’s presentation, Rammer said Wheaton students’ performance had pushed the district’s mean score up in the B range, higher than the assumed C range of the bell curve.

As a result, Rammer argued, colleges that look at class rank may unfairly eliminate Wheaton students if they assume certain ranks mean certain grades.

“What (the bell curve) represents is a distribution of scores without intervention, without an independent variable,” Rammer said. “That independent variable is instruction ... It’s a high-achieving district with quality teachers and students.”

For the most part, school board members appear to be on board with the proposal, which would phase in the plan to only report grade-point averages on transcripts starting with next year’s freshman class. Rammer said phasing in the plan would mean current students who have made class choices based upon a class-rank system would not be punished.

Rammer cited several area schools that have eliminated class rank and said a District 200 online survey showed most parents and students — both current and former — favored its elimination.

Board member Joann Coghill said moving forward it would give students a better chance in college applications.

“If it’s not there, it’s not considered,” she said. “If it is there, it might be considered. Let’s level the playing field because it looks like the trend is to eliminate it across the board.”

Rammer and Superintendent Brian Harris told Vice President Barb Intihar, the plan’s lone opponent on the board, that encouraging students to take more enriching classes would not change the quality of the district’s curriculum.

Intihar said she wanted to make sure the move was not merely a way of trying to make everyone feel better without challenging them.

“I don’t want to see us sacrificing rigor for making everyone feel good,” she said. “That is not what we are all about in this district. There is a smacking of this in the elimination. I’m trying to get over it, but it’s there.”

Board member Ken Knicker said eliminating class rank would allow students to take “more rewarding” classes without fearing their college prospects might be affected.

“We have kids dropping music and taking study hall because (the unweighted elective class) would hurt their class rank,” Knicker said.

Knicker said the goal should be to encourage students to choose classes that will enrich them in ways other than just class rank.

However, Intihar questioned whether the move would affect class selection if grade-point average calculations do not change.

“One thing that we are hearing is that class rank is the big bully and the big cause of a lot of angst,” she said. “Rank is based on grade-point average. If we are going to calculate GPA the same way we do now, and if a student takes a study hall, he still has the opportunity to have a higher GPA than someone who takes art or music. How is that going to change the way a student takes classes?”