CLASS RANK

1
CLASS RANK

• Rethinking Its Use at
• Waunakee High School
• Spring 2009

2
Class Rank - What Is It?

• Class rank is a statistic that is derived by
  comparing students grade point averages to a
  thousandth of a point. A student with a GPA of
  3.338 has a higher rank than a student with
  3.335.
• Class rank is usually referred to by percentile
  in the top 10, in the top 25, in the top 50 -
  of the class
• Waunakee reports class rank on a transcript as
  both actual rank (e.g. 87 of 243 students) and
  corresponding percentile (e.g. 64 indicates that
  36 of students in that class have a higher GPA)

3
Reduced Use of Class Rank

• Not reporting class rank is becoming more common.
  These Wisconsin districts or schools have
  eliminated the use of class rank, and many more
  are considering it

• Whitefish Bay
• Madison West
• Shorewood
• Middleton
• Kohler

• Verona
• Marshall
• Neenah
• Edgewood HS
• Marquette Univ HS

4
National Trend

• Reporting class rank is not actually standard
  practice across the nation
• From Boston College Heights newspaper When John
  Mahoney, director of the Office of Undergraduate
  Admissions, began his job in 1990, 64 of high
  schools reported class rank. For the admitted
  class of 2003, the statistic dropped to 41.
• From Kimberly Folstein, UWM Office of Admissions
  We see a mix of ranking and non-ranking
  transcripts.
• From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2008
  Private high schools such as University School
  and Marquette University High School havent
  ranked students for years.

5
National Trend

• Some statistics on class rank
• The number of admitted freshmen to UW-Madison
  reporting class rank dropped from 75 to 70
  between 2006-2008
• The percentage of admitted students reporting
  class rank to many private colleges is even lower
• Lawrence 07-08 60
• Marquette 07-08 60
• Stanford 08 51
• Northwestern 07-08 46
• Yale 08 40
• From College Common Data Set information

6
National Trend

• News articles indicate the trend
• Ferkenhoff, Eric. How Schools Are Pulling
  Rank. Time Magazine, July 10, 2006.
• Richards, Erin. Some districts drop class ranks
  to improve students college chances. Milwaukee
  Journal Sentinel, September 28, 2008.
• Ramirez, Eddy. More High Schools Consider
  Eliminating Class Rankings. US News World
  Report Education Blog, October 3, 2008.
• Peterson, Joy. Class rank is not the measure of
  student, school decides. Eden Prairie Star
  Tribune, February 3, 2009.

7
National Trend

• From the College Board website, 2009
• Class rank was once a major component in
  admissions decisions. But according to a recent
  report by the National Association for College
  Admission Counseling (NACAC) over half of all
  high schools no longer report student rankings.

8
Why Drop Class Rank?

• Waunakee wants the best for its students.
• The validity of class rank as a statistic is
  questionable.
• The pressure for class rank may have negative
  effects on student behavior.
• Stress caused by class rank is not under a
  students control.
• In a high achieving school, class rank may not
  help students for college admissions and may even
  hurt them.

9
Class Rank as a Statistic

• Class rank would be a valid statistic if every
  student took the same set of classes with the
  same set of teachers. The more that students
  vary from this uniformity, the less validity
  class rank has as a way of comparing students.
• For the same reason, as well as large variations
  in student population, the validity of using
  class rank to compare students between school
  districts is questionable.

10
Impact on Students

• For some students, the pressure for a high class
  rank can result in
• Avoidance of challenging classes
• Excessive competition with classmates
• Unwillingness to take academic and intellectual
  risks
• Cheating

11
Stress Good or Bad?

• GOOD
• All of us experience stress, and it can be good
  when it pushes us towards excellence.
• The stress to improve grades or GPA can have this
  positive effect, because students have control
  over their efforts to improve their own grades.

• BAD
• Stress over things we cannot control can be more
  of a negative than a positive.
• The stress to improve class rank fits into this
  category, because a students class rank can fall
  when other students improve.

12
Where Is the Top?

• In a school with many high achieving students, it
  is very difficult to be in the top 10. The chart
  at the right shows the GPA cut-offs for the top
  10 of Waunakee graduating classes in recent
  years.
• GPAs are from the end of grade 11, which are the
  ones used on college applications.

13
Where Is the Middle?

• Class rank can have a negative impact on students
  in the middle of the class. The chart at the
  right shows the GPA cut-offs for the top 50 of
  Waunakee graduating classes in recent years.
• GPAs are from the end of grade 11, which are the
  ones used on college applications.

14
Big Difference or Small?

• Relatively small differences in GPAs can result
  in relatively large differences in class rank
• This table is from the Waunakee Class of 2009,
  with 249 students, at the end of grade 11

15
Affected by Class Size

• With the same GPA and standing, class rank
  changes with the size of the class

16
Class Rank - Help or Hurt?
CONCLUSION Waunakee students may be at a
disadvantage for admission to college as a result
of class rank.
17
Class Rank - Help or Hurt?
CONCLUSION Waunakee students may be at a
disadvantage for admission to college as a result
of class rank.
18
Effect on College Admissions

• These school districts reported that after
  eliminating class rank, more of their students
  were admitted to competitive and highly selective
  colleges.
• Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
• Shorewood, Wisconsin
• Ridgefield, Connecticut
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Glenbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Illinois
  (same number or more)

19
Effect on College Admissions

• While class rank is only one element of college
  admissions, without it the other elements
  increase in importance
• Rigor of courses taken
• Strength of grades in relation to rigor
• College admissions test scores (ACT and/or SAT)
• Activities
• Recommendations
• Essays

20
Why Not Weight Grades?

• Weighting some classes with more points per grade
  (such as 5.0 for an A) creates an even more
  intense mathematical game for grades, and
  electives often lose out
• Weighting has limited impact on college
  considerations of GPA, as most colleges remove
  the weights and compute a new GPA
• Weighting has a large impact on class rank
  therefore, eliminating class rank removes the
  biggest reason for weighting grades

21
Results of Student Staff Surveys

• Should we eliminate class rank?

22
Results continued

• Do students take easy classes to keep their class
  rank up?

23
Results continued

• Does class rank cause stress for students?

24
Next Steps

• The district will complete a survey of parents
  for additional feedback and questions
• Tonights PowerPoint presentation and upcoming
  parent survey results will be posted on the high
  school website
• District will develop a recommendation and submit
  an action plan to the Board of Education

25
If class rank is eliminated

• Determine which class is the first
• Determine conditions under which rank would be
  available, such as for scholarships that require
  it requested versus required
• Revise the school profile that is sent with
  transcripts to provide more information on the
  quality of our courses
• Continue gold honors cord recognition and develop
  other means for recognizing graduates for
  academic achievement and rigorous coursework
• Revise various Board of Education policies
  related to class rank and academic honors

26
From an author

• Schools shouldDrop Class Rank
• Class rank encourages cutthroat competition,
  cheating, and choosing classes based on GPA
  weight rather than on interest, not to mention
  directly pitting students against one another.
  Abolishing class rank sends the message that
  schools are interested in students as individuals
  rather than as compared to their classmates.
• Alexandra Robbins, in The Overachievers The
  Secret Lives of Driven Kids (2006)