School Board Postpones Decision On Class Rank

By Susan Coney

The Newtown Board of Education this week postponed its decision on whether to eliminate the class rank system until the next meeting, scheduled for April 12.

Concerns have been raised that with more students applying to college and with fewer slots available, many high caliber students are not being considered in the top of their class due solely to the class rank system. There is no set standard across the board for all high schools so that rank is not a meaningful measure of a student’s achievement. Some schools have a 4.0 scoring, others a 4.5; there is no standard scale across the scope of all high schools nationwide. This poses the question of how the students can be fairly compared.

Not only is the current class rank system an invalid tool to access students, it often paints an unfair picture by lining students up against each other. It creates a cutthroat and rival situation. Assistant Superintendent Alice Jackson commented that competitiveness is not always healthy. “I have parents of second graders asking their child’s class rank,” she said. Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff agreed stating, “When you have a school that achieves so well you want to look at the best way to reflect that.”

Newtown High School’s Interim Principal Patricia Llodra supports the elimination of the class rank system. She, along with NHS Director of Guidance Neil Culhane, provided invaluable documentation that raised cause for concern about how our students are being evaluated.

In a letter presented to Dr Pitkoff, Mr Culhane wrote, “Newtown High has very capable students. But when we report a student’s GPA of 92.262, which gives that person a rank of 25, this is misleading to the admissions personnel. A rank of 25 does not look that impressive when in fact it is, it’s an ‘A’ average. But because there are many students in the class, there are that many more students who could have a higher GPA.”

Further he stressed, “Without a ranking system, colleges and universities must look more carefully and critically at the information before them…recommendations, activities, courses, level of challenge, etc, and use that as a basis of what the student looks like. We want the colleges to look at the student from a holistic perspective and not be influenced by a number [rank] because it is not an accurate tool for acceptance. For instance, a student could have a lower rank because he/she has pursued courses of special interest, which did not have a high level of challenge. Consequently, a student is penalized for delving deeper into his/her passion.”

Principal Llodra emphasized that high school may be the last opportunity for a student to explore and study other things such as the arts, music, and languages. She stated that in a competitive high school only a certain number of students can rank at the top, which closes doors to others and limits opportunities for students by narrowing their options. Ms Llodra stressed that “we send our students mixed messages by not allowing them to explore rich experiences because they feel the pressure to take all honor and AP courses.”

Both Mr Culhane and Ms Llodra pointed out that class rank is often a prohibiting factor in the students’ taking more challenging courses. Many students opt to take a less challenging course to earn a higher grade rather than take a more difficult course where he/she might earn a lower grade, which in turn would lower the student’s GPA and rank.

Mr Culhane noted that according to The National Association for College Admission Counseling’s State of College Admissions Report, among private nonparochial schools, 91 percent do not use a ranking system. He commented that it was ironic that colleges are especially interested to know what the student is passionate about and the ranking system discourages their pursuit because it could lower the GPA.

Some board members questioned whether colleges would take the time to sift through the students’ transcripts if they do not have a class rank to go by and wondered if admissions boards would look at the broader picture of the student. Several members questioned whether there would still be a valedictorian and salutatorian. Mr Culhane reassured the board, “We are not doing away with class rank per se, we just will not report it. There will be some colleges, such as the military academies, that will want to see it. We will still be able to provide that information for them. Also, we can still maintain a ranking to determine the class valedictorian and salutatorian.”

After lengthy discussion it was decided that the board would take time to reflect on the information provided to them in the meeting and make a decision at the April 12 meeting.

In other business, Assistant Superintendent Alice Jackson commended Newtown High School teachers Nicole Rossi and Kathy Swift for their outstanding work in writing the Journalism Curriculum. Jeanetta Miller, department chairman, told the board, “It is a rich curriculum. The units are lively, deep, and make a strong connection in to the real world setting.”

Toward the end of the its April 5 meeting the board set the Newtown High School graduation date to be scheduled for Tuesday, June 21, at 6:30 pm. The Newtown Middle School Moving Up ceremony is slated for Thursday, June 23, at 6 pm. Both ceremonies will take place at the O’Neill Center located on the Western Connecticut State University campus.