More High Schools Consider Eliminating Class Rankings

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If a student works hard to accomplish their academic goals, who are we to take that from them? Not everyone can be in the top 10%, true, but every person knows what it takes to be in the top. No one has control over your class rank, except you. Don't make that someone's problem.

Tia Harris of GA 8:50AM April 26, 2012

Beware of unintended consequences! If class rank is not provided, admissions committees up the ante on another metric --test scores. Especially with the recent application explosion, the emphasis continues to be on hard data. Moreover, high school class rank is a valid predictor of success in the first year of college. However distasteful to some, this information remains a valuable part of the admissions process.

charles corcoran of MN 8:47PM January 11, 2011

I certainly agree with the mentality of eliminating rank - however it is dependent on the school and the classes which are offered. I am a high school Junior and the valedictorian of the class, and there have been several instances of students who were not acknowledged for their considerable academic performance,
As for the Advanced Placement program- there are positive and negative attributes. It is beneficial that college-level material is (hopefully) becoming available to disadvantaged schools with advanced students as well as students who are capable of increasing their capacity for effort. However, the program is narrow-minded and not holistic enough as what is important is simply a grade on a standard test, and not the effort expended in the class. Not to mention, are college admissions officers capable of gauging the difficulty of these courses? Many secondary schools limit the amount of advanced placement courses as well even to the most accelerated students. If college admissions are this "linear" in their perspective and only regard instant-gratification such as the number of AP courses a student took as well as standardized test scores, they are not truly observing the capacity, character, and intellectual curiosity of a student.
In my particular instances, my schedule only allowed me to take three Advanced Placement courses - English, Calculus, and Chemistry. I became highly frustrated, and therefore took courses at extension programs (psychology and history of the Middle Ages, as well as two Harvard courses (French immersion and Shakespearean literature) through their wonderful extension program. I have also been highly motivated outside of a school or college campus by completing coursework from MIT's Open Courseware in anything from neurobiology to the Fourier Series. Yet, no student can be credited for being a self-guided learner to challenge themselves with more advanced material than they can find in their high school as there is no standard exam to take. I find it more important that students take actual college courses because it exposes them to the atmosphere, work ethic, and academic maturity that the must acquire to be prepared for college - not simply being taught to a test. As a matter of fact, I find that teaching to a test is so archaic that I might simply take courses at the extension full time as a Senior.
Considering rank once more, for schools who teach advanced material beyond AP (yes, there are schools which teach classes that are more difficult, such as Multivariable Calculus and difficult philosophy courses), rank should not exist. You cannot determine the better student simply upon numbers.

Olivia Mello of MA 4:51PM February 28, 2009

A friend's daughter having been through all the AP classes in HS and speaking from her position in college, advised her brother to take a few AP classes but only a few. She advised him to take Accelerted level classes as much as possible esp if it is an area he really loves. She said the teachers teach in a more intellectual and creatively engaging way - in short the best teaching practices they have learned in their preparation to be teachers. This is more in line with "high level" learning. AP classes are all about teaching to the test. It is mostly a grind that aims for short term learning to pass the test. Schools themselves pressure students to take these classes and the AP tests as that is how they temselves advance in rankings. More evidence that despite the rhetoric it is not always about what is really best for the students.
Taking a ton of AP classes along with galloping into binding early decision are two mistakes many students make. These things masquarade as being what all ambitious stuents must do but actually they are more about the institutions that offer them.
AP is important but it must be balanced out with lots of good healthy choices for the mind and body.
Class rank - only postively serves a very tiny number of people. Damages many others. I agree it must go. Our very competetive school did a way with it a while back. I thought everyone had. Makes me really respect the decision makers at our school district.

Carol of PA 10:49PM February 11, 2009

First our school system can't meet the basic requirements of teaching our children how to read and write, so the "AP" classes were created to show a student is worthy of university level work. Then we changed the GPA scale, from an understandable 90 or above equalled an "A" now it's curved to a 94 or above is an "A". Now we want to stop making little Johnny or Suzie feel bad because they didn't work hard, study and do all the other things required to excel, they still are viewed as smart or competitive as those who did put forth the effort. Instead of holding the standards that have worked for many generations, we continue to tweak the system to fit the students. We are producing students who believe the world is fair, life is fair, and competition doesn't exist. It shocks the heck out of them when they discover that life doesn't bend to thier wants and needs.
When are we going to stop telling our students that average is okay. Does that make them the worst of the best or best of the worst, we wonder why our nation is falling behind in education, it's becaue we're far more concerned about how the kids feel than caring about what they've learned.

Jim of NC 2:43AM February 10, 2009

All about time management. The classes forces students to either suffer or learn to split and plan their time wisely. It's not beyond most of them and certainly not impossible. That, with adjusting to the work load, learning to learn independently, and being organized are the main lessons from AP classes that translate into success for college (I am first in my class and on sophomore basketball and varsity tennis, so I am speaking from experience). However I certainly agree on the fact that class rankings prevent students from taking the classes and subjects that would actually help them more in real life. I had to forgo leadership and all business classes because they would bring down my GPA.

Nicholas Lee of CA 12:49AM February 10, 2009

I am a freshmen. I think AP classes are important. If a student feel as if they cannot handle the class, he or she needs to take easier class that requires less work. I myself,as a freshmen , is already is challenging classes. Next year im taking Honors English. My senior year all my classes will be AP or CP.

jakhil valentine of MO 8:56AM December 31, 2008

Since class rank seems to matter a lot to selective colleges, they matter to me and my son who is applying this year. There is a student who is ranked 11th in his grade who has only taken one honors course while others have taken many honors plus AP courses. There is no fair comparison. AP courses are simply harder.
Those kids who took the harder courses deserve credit for the extra, and far harder, work they have done. They shouldn't be penalized by the colleges they apply to who will have no way of knowing how many kids of higher rank in the same school took easier courses. If a college does not know that kid ranked # 11 took harder courses, her gardes might not look as good as a kid who took easier courses, scored 99 and got ranked 6th, 2nd or 1st.
I think students should not be ranked. Colleges get paid well for each application. Let the admission officers work a bit harder. God knows the kids did.

Sunny H of NY 5:32PM November 06, 2008