The class rank system for graduating seniors is obsolete and should be abolished at Batavia High School, School District 101 officials have been told.
“Colleges don’t care anymore (what an applicant’s class rank is),” Principal JoAnne Smith told the Board of Education. “We talked with administrators at schools that have eliminated ranks, and they say they haven’t received a single request from colleges for a student’s class rank for admission or scholarships. Some schools still ask on their applications if a student’s high school reports class rank, but if it doesn’t, the student checks that and moves on.”
The ranking system does discourage students from taking more challenging classes because they’re afraid to risk getting lower grades that could drop their class ranks, Smith said. The number of students enrolling in Advanced Placement classes increased noticeably six years ago after the district added weighted grade points for those classes, she added.
“I remember having many great students who wanted to take honors classes, but they couldn’t afford to risk the hit to their GPAs,” said board member John Dryden, a former social studies teacher at Batavia High School. “I’m all for this.”
“It probably would be a big stress relief for the kids not to have to worry about that anymore,” board member Chris Lowe said.
Dryden added that ACT and SAT test scores, grade-point averages and the number of advanced classes students took are a more accurate measure of their academic readiness for college than their class rank is.
“I graduated first in my class from Aurora Christian High School in 1978 with a 2.85 GPA,” he said. “Of course, I was also last in my class because the school had just opened (in 1975) and I was the only student who graduated in 1978. So class ranks really can be deceiving.”
“Different school districts calculate rank differently. Students competing for the top spots try to game the system,” Chief Academic Officer Brad Newkirk said.
If the board votes next month to eliminate class rank, officials plan to keep ranking for this year’s junior and senior classes, Smith said.
“The juniors and seniors are already halfway through their college applications, so we don’t want to change things for them,” she said. “The sophomores have only been ranked once, and it’s too early to affect them.”
The Class of 2019 would be the first unranked graduating class if the proposal is approved.
Denise Linke is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
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