THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 13, 1996 TAG: 9602130241
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 142 lines
Leila Islam can't recall a time when she didn't earn straight A's.
Now, with high school graduation about a year away, most of her thoughts are centered on college. But these days, the 16-year-old junior also wonders what Graduation Day will be like for Churchland High's class of 1997.
Leila hasn't dreamed of being valedictorian. But her grade-point average makes her a contender: It's slightly higher than a perfect 4.0 because she's done well in many advanced courses.
``I've worked hard all these years, so I guess being chosen as valedictorian would be a nice reward,'' she said. ``That's not my main goal. .
But under a proposal the School Board is scheduled to consider Thursday, the district's three high schools may abandon the traditional way of ranking each graduating senior by grade point average - beginning next school year.
The custom of naming a senior class valedictorian and salutatorian - the No. 1 and No. 2 spots - also could be ditched.
The proposal - crafted by a special committee of educators, student representatives, parents and coaches, with a nudge from the superintendent - instead calls for the brightest students to fall into three groups: summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude.
Other students would be regular graduates, Superintendent Richard Trumble said.
If the board embraces the idea, it will need to take care of several key details - deciding the range of grade point averages for each category and figuring out how students would be chosen to make graduation speeches, for instance.
If any of this sounds familiar, that's because it's similar to the way many colleges recognize the most academically stellar graduates.
But this is high school, where the annual ranking of graduating seniors, as well as the naming of the top two graduates, is as much a part of the traditional fabric as homecoming or the prom.
``Personally, I'm against it,'' said Marcus Sims, a 15-year-old junior at I.C. Norcom High, referring to the prospect of moving away from individual class rank.
``People work hard for a long time and dream of being valedictorian. It wouldn't be fair to them. . . . It's just like the election: Even if it's really, really close, someone is going to have more (votes) and that person is going to be president. That's the way it is.''
But Trumble and educators in a handful of districts across the country have grown increasingly frustrated by class ranking's downside.
Critics have long argued that it:
Says little about the quality of a student's education and doesn't compel colleges to scrutinize other factors in much depth.
Often hurts college-bound seniors with a decent GPA - such as a 3.0 average from all B's. Those students may wind up with a deceptively low rank because the GPA of top students taking weighted honors courses can hover beyond 4.0.
Encourages students to take less rigorous classes, with the goal of getting ``easy A's'' and improving both their GPA and rank.
Discourages students from taking a broad array of courses. It's contradictory to encourage kids to become well-rounded by taking many courses - from foreign language to technology classes - only to have a system that penalizes them for doing so, Trumble said.
Students often shy away from such electives because they typically carry less weight - or credit points - when grade point averages are calculated.
``The reward system for selecting valedictorian and salutatorian encourages students to take as few courses as possible, and only classes that are weighted, typically advanced or honors courses - and nothing else,'' Trumble said.
``That flies in the face of the idea of a comprehensive high school education, especially when we're trying to encourage young people to expand and become rather broadly educated.''
More than half of Fairfax County's public high schools don't rank seniors. The Williamsburg-James City district is studying alternatives to traditional class ranking. Many of the nation's top private schools have done away with it.
The reviews are often mixed.
In other areas, supporters of ranking have argued that its problems could be addressed by changing the system of weighted grades.
To them, plans to do away with it amount to ``feel good'' measures; attempts to skip over the perhaps unpleasant job of assigning a rank to the weakest students.
Still, many say the practice is out of step with reality.
Mazen Dickman's daughter, Dorothy, was Churchland's valedictorian last year. If approved, the proposal would move Portsmouth in the right direction, Dickman said.
``In life,'' she said, ``there really is no such thing as `No. 1.' ''
The debate's emotional element looms large.
Competition for the top rank is fierce. In many cases, students are separated by a mere fraction of a point.
``If I were to be valedictorian, that would be a higher honor,'' said Islam, the Churchland student. ``I think it's just more of a distinction for someone to say, `She was No. 1' than to say, `She graduated in the top.' ''
Parents of the brightest students often fear that abolishing the practice will hurt their kids when it's time to apply to the most selective colleges.
However, many schools that have abolished traditional class ranking will provide a student's individual rank only if a college, military academy or scholarship-granting organization requires it.
Trumble said Portsmouth could do the same.
Preferences differ from college to college. Class rank is seldom viewed as the determining factor, in and of itself, when it comes to deciding whether to admit a student.
Even so, it's typically seen as a key piece of information.
``If we have it, it's one more thing we use when we're evaluating a student,'' said Patrick Dwyer, senior assistant dean of admission at the College of William and Mary.
``But we put a lot of emphasis on the strength of the student's curriculum and the types of courses a student has taken.
``That's always been our starting point when looking at a student's ability.''
James V. Koch, president of Old Dominion University, described class rank as extremely useful.
``Our own research suggests that a student's ability to compete within his peer group is a very powerful predictor of later success, so we find rank very helpful,'' he said.
``I don't want to say it's the only thing we could look at, . . . but to the extent that we don't know it, that's a disadvantage. Not a killer, if you will, but a disadvantage.''
In a related matter, the School Board also will consider on Thursday a plan to lower parts of the district's middle and high school grading scale, which determines the value of each letter grade.
In Portsmouth, an A is now given for scores of 95 and above, compared with a 92 in Newport News, 93 in Norfolk and Hampton, and a 94 in Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach, for example.
Many students favor changing the scale to more closely mirror those in neighboring districts. Doing so would level the playing field for scholarships and college admission, they say.
When it comes to abolishing individual class rank, the jury is still out.
Selima Islam, Leila's mother, said she would prefer to see her daughter named valedictorian. She recalls how exciting it was to watch Leila's sister, Monica, prepare for her 1992 graduation ceremony.
Monica was Churchland's co-valedictorian that year. She and another graduate had the same GPA.
``It means a lot to the students in their own communities,'' Selima Islam said. ``But no one knows you were valedictorian once you're in college. You have to adjust to the bigger world.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Mark Mitchell/The Virginian-Pilot
Leila Islam
KEYWORDS: SCHOOL RANKING PORTSMOUTH SCHOOLS HIGH SCHOOL by CNB