Class rank at East has been a hotly debated topic for many years and is surrounded by controversy. The East Side Newspaper staff has decided to reopen the case of class rank, this time investigating further into the issue than ever before. Updates from the district committee investigating class rank, teachers, parents, students, and graduates of East have been provided to help us shed light on the issues.
We began by collecting a simple poll asking “are you familiar with the class rank system?” to 256 randomly selected students at East. Thirty-two percent of the sampled students didn’t know about class rank.
So, what is class rank? The College Board, a nonprofit organization responsible for tests such as SAT and AP, define class rank as “a mathematical summary of a student’s academic record compared to those of other students in the class.” That is, rank takes course grades and displays where one stands compared to other students within the same grade level. What is this mysterious mathematical formula? According to recently retired guidance counselor Mr. Coon, “Each grade is converted to an index, based on course difficulty and grade received. All the indexes are added up, and then divided by credits. Furthermore, “[Only] core subjects count for rank – English, math, social studies, science, and foreign language. Electives do not count unless they are an AP.” Mr. Coon also added, “Colleges look at rank, but it’s usually not a huge factor. But, for more competitive schools, rank is considered much more.”
Class rank at East started when the school opened. Principal Taylor stated, “At one time, class rank was much bigger factor in admissions. At that time, rank was benefiting our students. The district is looking into class rank to see if that is still the case.” Traditionally, class rank was used to determine the valedictorian and salutatorian, who would speak at graduation. East, unlike many other high schools, allows any senior to submit a speech to be read at graduation. Class rank was also used as a factor, along with SAT scores and GPA, to determine admission into college.
Colleges vary in how much weight they put on class rank in the admissions process. Yale admissions officer Jonathan Martin said, “The GPA and the courses the student takes are more important. We don’t compare by rank of the student. At the end of the day it’s about who they are. The rank is just a number.” However, some colleges go to the other extreme with class rank in admissions. Public universities in Texas now admit the top 10 per cent of each graduating class, and Florida universities accept the top 20 per cent regardless of other factors, according to a study of class rank by Michael Krist of Stanford University. Schools such as St. Bonaventure University were more moderate with their use of rank. The admissions officer said, ‘We do look at how the student is ranked, but we don’t look at the student’s rank that heavily. Rather, we look at the students grades and activities more than how the student is ranked. “
So what is the big controversy surrounding rank? Some students and parents want to abolish class rank at East, and other are trying to counter their efforts in support of the system. The most memorable attempt at ridding East of class rank was led by East graduate Cindy Xue when she was Co-Editor-in-Chief of The East Side News, according to Principal Taylor. Due to this newspaper’s research, Xue opposed the rank system on grounds that it leads to more cheating, creates bad attitudes towards learning, and fosters an unfriendly and tense learning environment among students at East. However, supporters of class rank argue that class rank motivates students to take challenging courses, is a good indicator of academic success for colleges, and is a fair and unbiased calculation (as defended previously in one hard news story and one commentary for The East Side).
In response to the controversy, the district has been investigating the effects of class rank on college admissions. A committee has been formed to investigate the rank issue. They have called several college admissions officers to ask about the weight of rank in admissions, and if rank is a beneficial part of the application. Thus far, the committee has discovered that colleges do not penalize students who are not ranked. The officers use other parts of the application to determine admission instead. The committee has now teamed up with guidance counselors from all three district high schools to further examine the effects of class rank. No decisions have been made so far.
Within the next two months, the East Side staff will be diligently debunking class rank myths and investigating the facts.
by Rielly Hennessy, Jenna Marcus, Saman Hasan, and Kiran Garg
