Millard school board eliminates class rank, will replace with Latin distinctions for GPA

Students in Millard Public Schools will be able to shoot for No. 1 on the football field but not in the classroom in the years to come.

Millard school board members voted 5-0 Monday to stop calculating class rank, beginning with next year’s freshman class. Instead, students who surpass certain grade point averages will be honored with Latin distinctions commonly used to crown high achievers at colleges and universities.

Students with a GPA of 4.0 or better will be honored as summa cum laude. Those earning a GPA of 3.75 to 3.99 will graduate magna cum laude. A GPA of 3.5 to 3.74 will be recognized as cum laude.

“This isn’t the same as ‘Everyone gets a trophy,’ ” board member Mike Kennedy said. “That’s not what this is about. This is not about making kids feel good either. To be on that Latin system, you’re going to have to demonstrate you’re worthy of those recognition tiers.”

The district will continue to calculate weighted GPAs, taking into account the rigor of courses.

Voting in favor were Kennedy, Dave Anderson, Paul Meyer, Pat Ricketts and Mike Pate. Linda Poole was absent.

The vote aligns Millard high schools with others across the country that are ditching class rank over concerns that fierce competition for rank hurts kids.

The decision of Nebraska’s third-largest district is likely to spur others to contemplate a change.

Annette Eyman, spokeswoman for the Papillion-La Vista School District, said Monday that discussion of class rank is “definitely on the radar.”

A district committee — formed to explore what future high schools should look like — probably will take up the matter, she said.

Millard high school principals and administrators advocated for the change. They argued that students were stressing out over class rank and picking courses to boost rank rather than exploring their interests.

District officials also argued that college admissions officers no longer consider rank as important as other criteria such as ACT scores and the number of college-preparatory classes taken.

Pate said he was comfortable with eliminating class rank. It’s just not as relevant as it used to be, he said.

“Other than pride and bragging rights, what use is it?” Pate said.

Millard students had figured out how to manipulate class rank by taking more classes, not necessarily quality classes, he said.

In interviews with The World-Herald, students described how they would take extra classes in the summer or early in the morning during the school year to accumulate rank points and boost their standing.

In Iowa, nearly 40 high schools don’t provide class rank on their students.

In Omaha, graduates of the small college-preparatory Duchesne Academy gain admission to some of the country’s most prestigious universities without a ranking, and Creighton Prep does not routinely report class rank.

“None of our kids are going to get rejected for scholarships because of this,” Kennedy said.

As schools dump rank, colleges and universities are rewriting admissions requirements to accommodate students without class ranking. Even when rank is available, admissions officers don’t give it the weight they once did, according to a national survey.

The Iowa Board of Regents this year adopted an alternate admissions formula for students without a rank.

About 23 percent of applicants to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln do not report a class rank, which is not necessary for admission.

The trend away from rank is reflected in a national survey of 352 four-year colleges and universities.

Just 15 percent of college admissions officers said class rank was of considerable importance in admissions decisions, according to the 2014 State of College Admission Report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling. That’s down from 42 percent in 1993.

Carrying the greatest weight, in order of importance, were grades in college prep courses, strength of curriculum, scores on ACT and SAT exams, and grades in all courses.

SAT and ACT scores have risen in importance, up from 46 percent in 1993 to 58 percent in 2013.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com

Also read:

• ACLU warns Hastings Public Schools to stop enforcing ‘McCarthy era’ patriotism law