DCPS Board Proposes Class Rank changes

By Zach Genus

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (SCPDA) —  According to the Duval County School Board, current board members are considering changing county policy regarding class rank. The major changes being considered would either alter the presentation of one’s class rank or remove rank from senior transcripts or both. In January, WJCT reported the school board is contemplating using percentile rankings or the summa cum laude system, a collegiate system which recognizes students who graduate with a grade-point average (GPA) in the highest three deciles. This potential change in the way students’ rank will be presented has brought about discussion among students, parents and educators concerning the effects rank has on student course selection, mental health and representation in college admissions.

Although class rank can be somewhat indicative of a student’s academic ability and dedication, some educators believe it can be an inaccurate representation of a student’s effort throughout their scholastic career. Class rank has become a subject of debate among students, parents and people affiliated with DCPS. While the presence of a ranking system for students does encourage some students to put forth their best efforts, it is simultaneously putting limitations on which courses students choose and misrepresenting their level of dedication to academics.

“I feel my class position might not be representative because Stanton is a very competitive school,” said sophomore Favour Falana. “This makes it appear to others like I’m not putting in enough effort even though I know that I am.”

Students interested in taking unweighted courses that align with their passions often feel these classes should be weighted. These feelings are typically related to either the workload of these unweighted classes or enriching learning experiences which these classes may provide.

“I love what I’m doing in Yearbook. Our work impacts so many people in our school and it should be a weighted class,” said sophomore Amelia Cole. “It is like a job and it is preparing us for our future. It’s worth so much more than a textbook class. I love yearbook, but it would be better if it were a weighted class.”

For students who are concerned about their rank and face this dilemma, the class ranking system can discourage them from pursuing their academic passions wholeheartedly. This occurs partially because of the use of weighted GPA scales to determine class rankings.

The weighted grading scale, which allows students to reach a maximum grade point average of 5.0 rather than the standard 4.0, is used to account for more challenging courses such as honors, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes. Often, elective classes are not as heavily weighted as others. For this reason, students choose to forgo taking classes which have the potential to peak their interest and instead, elect to enroll in classes which will add the most points to their GPAs.

“I chose to take art and AP Human Geography rather than gym, a class which I really enjoy, because those two classes are weighted and gym is unweighted,” said sophomore Daniyal Nasrullah. “I did this because it will look better on my college application and help me get into college.”

The fact that certain elective courses are unweighted can be a frustrating dilemma for students who wish to attend select universities, but want to take classes which they believe will enrich their high school learning experiences. In the same respect, the pressure to take weighted courses challenges students to work harder and provides them  with an incentive to go above and beyond in their studies. In general, weighted courses are more difficult as they require students to keep up with a more rigorous workload. Certain students, however, find that when they are unsatisfied with their rank, they work harder to meet their goals.

“I think rank has a lot of benefits in schools because rank has really motivated me to work harder because I know there is a competition,” said junior Michael Shi. “This competition prepares me for the real world outside and I think it’s important to keep this system so I challenge myself to reach the top.”

However, when students choose to attend high schools where they will be surrounded by their most determined peers, their class rank can prove to be misleading. When a school is populated by students who are working hard to get ahead, it becomes increasingly difficult to get the edge over one’s peers.

“I made guidance counselors add the following statement to their college recommendation letters,” said Bob Turba, former Stanton guidance counselor. “‘The student chose to challenge him/herself by attending Stanton whose academics are all honors, AP, or IB. Had the student attended the neighborhood high school, his/her GPA of X.XXXX would have placed in the top 1,2,3,4,etc., but the student chose to accept the challenge and immerse themself in academics.’”

Turba chose to include this statement to acknowledge students who have chosen to take on more rigorous schedule at the cost of standing out among a less competitive group of students. Last year, Stanton was ranked the ninth most challenging high school in the U.S. by the Washington Post. Due to Stanton’s heavy workload, students may struggle to maintain their desired grades and fear college admissions officers won’t be able see the whole story through a college application. These fears cause the growing worry that competitive atmospheres, like the one at Stanton, may be harmful to a student’s mental and emotional health because of the amount of pressure they feel to keep up with their peers.

“I feel like, especially since we go to Stanton, such a competitive school, it can definitely weigh on you when your grades aren’t where you want them to be,” said junior Casey Peterson. “It can be detrimental to your self worth and it can have a negative effect on how far you think you will go in the future. I think that if we went to another school that was less competitive it wouldn’t be the same.”

At competitive high schools, students go so far as to take classes online during their time away from the classroom to add credits to their transcript and boost their GPAs. The numerical difference taking one or two classes online makes to a student’s GPA is quite minuscule, however virtual classes enable them to learn more than they could in the standard curriculum.

“When I calculate the increase in GPA for a student who asks about online classes the response is usually ‘that’s it?’,” said Stanton guidance counselor Penny Studstill. “When students decide to take an extra course, it should be more about what can be learned because, one additional course, while it may help a student’s rank, is not going to boost their GPA very much.”  

However, in an environment where a differential in GPA of 0.01 can be between 3rd and 8th, the effects are substantial. In environments like these, students who want to add to their application will go to great lengths to do so.

“I took courses online to enrich myself in new things,” said junior Oyeyemi Shofolu. “I also did it to help my rank go up through  boosting my GPA.”

Students also begin at different starting points, in terms of weighted GPA, due to unweighted classes offered in middle school. At certain middle schools in Duval County, such as James Weldon Johnson College Preparatory, Julia Landon College Preparatory and Darnell-Cookman School of the Medical Arts, students are required to take foreign language courses for high school credit.

“I took Spanish at James Weldon Johnson in eighth grade so I feel like I never had a chance to be the valedictorian,” said junior Munaa Ahmed. “I feel like someone should have informed me that it would affect me later on in my high school years.”

Due to the unweighted nature of these classes, students who attend these middle schools can be adversely affected in terms of their GPA and class rank once they reach high school. All high school courses are included in the calculation of weighted GPA, including those taken in middle school. According to the Stanton guidance office, this fact creates a difference between the class rank of students entering Stanton because their weighted GPAs vary based on the classes required at their middle schools. The Duval County School Board has made it known that they are considering removing middle school classes from the calculation of high school rank.

The decision to stop reporting class rank would be a first for Duval County Public Schools. The proposal has gone to the Student Progression Plan Committee in Duval County who are looking to make a final decision by the spring of 2018. The school board has yet to come to a final decision on this issue, but for those who will be affected by it, the decision will be one to pay close attention to in the coming months.