<p>At our kids' HS, ALL kids who have the weighted equivalent of the lowest GPA of a graduating senior who has never had below an "A" are all "Validictorians," even if they took APs and/or Honors classes & got a B (or several). We have quite a few Vals--son is amused (he's not among them--too many Bs & GASP a few Cs).</p>
<p>My kids' school ranks and uses all grades (non-weighted classes like band and weighted classes, honors and ap). Therefore whoever comes out on top with the most A's in the most AP classes will be the val. Middle school math classes like Alg. and geom. are on the transcript but not added into gpa. Everyone is still required to take 4 units of math at the h.s. so the brightest get to AP Stats and Calc. first. (A in AP class =6pts.)</p>
<p>The val of S's class never made a B on a report card...ever. She took lots of AP's, worked hard and stayed on top. Was she the smartest kid in the class...hmm? The sal outscored her on the SAT by like 150 pts. He was a brilliant boy who just wasn't into the competetion as much and took fewer AP's but made A's on all the ones he took. My S (#6) also outscored the val on SAT but was more interested in taking courses he liked and "only" took 7 AP's. Both val and sal spoke at graduation. The top 10 were recognized on Senior Award night.</p>
<p>We all come from different perspectives even though we are all parents of (or) high achieving kids. </p>
<p>I can assure you that had my D not been named Val , I would have suggested it was because she had taken courses years early and with different and lower grading teachers, and she was unable because of scheduling to take one more highly weighted class she wanted to take . It wouldn't have been fair. </p>
<p>The youngster in the sal spot can say that if he had not skipped a math course by taking it in the summer he would be val and the fact that a dual credit course taken off site was weighted not as highly as it would have been if taken on site. It wasn't fair.</p>
<p>Number three can argue that his GPA was higher than 2 of the three immediately preceding vals, and he just had the bad luck to be behind these two. It wasn't fair in a historical perspective (I think the 4th highest GPA in 4 years is third in this class. Doesn't that suck?). </p>
<p>It will never be "fair" in an absolute sense but it can be "more fair". Continue to try to remove the inconsistencies, the fallacies, the idiocies of the situation but realize that whatever you do, it still won't be truly "fair".</p>
<p>In S' class the val and sal were very close and so, that particular year, they both spoke and were both called val (first time). They were pretty clearly the standouts from the get-go. As PackMom asked, were they the smartest kids in the class? Who knows? That's not what it measures - it measures the highest grades.</p>
<p>At one level, we gotta get a life. Achievement is its own reward. At another level, I admit that the glow of honest pride is a good one. DS was not val/sal, nor even a paritcularly close contender, but he was recognized at graduation ceremonies for a couple of other things and I admit it made my day more special.</p>
<p>In our small town, the top 10% are profiled in the local community paper - photo, profile, where off to college etc. The "big city" paper (Portland Press Herald) picks this up from most of the towns in the metro area, so the recognition is there. I like it. There's recognition for the top hs football player in the state, tops in other sports etc, so why not for the academics? Perhaps this is something the OP can interest her local media in.</p>
<p>
Is that what your school bills the val as? The smartest kid in the senior class? Please tell me your school isn't that twisted. That's awful. </p>
<p>D's school makes no such assertion , only that "given these parameters this kid had the highest GPA". If other schools are saying that the Val is the smartest kid, well - I can see that as a real problem. IMO Val should be a computation based on written factors that all can see and calculate, not a qualitative assessment where opinion is considered.</p>
<p>BTW, I guess our school did something right (or lucked out) as D's test scores were slightly higher (based on the collegeboard concordance) than the sal's whose scores were slightly higher than the #3. 1580 to 1560 to 15##.</p>
<p>At my school , in the Bronze Age, we had a separate category for the high test scorer , the "Star" student. Big honor at our place. That and "Killed biggest lion."</p>
<p>Palermo,
D does not believe others are recognized in any way. The V and S are introduced as the graduation speakers. School is a private Catholic college prep high school, with an IB program and lots of kids taking AP courses. So differences among top students are small. The student who is felt to have the highest academic standing receives a separate award.</p>
<p>
I don't think I've heard of this one. What does this mean and who selects on what basis?</p>
<p>At our high school, we still have weighted classes, class rank, and a Val and Sal. In the last few years, they have also instituted new recognition for the "Superintendent's Scholars"...the top 16 by rank. These 16 are honored with a reception prior to actual graduation. Parents are invited; short bios are read of each of the 16; each student receives an engraved Olympic-style medal; and refreshments are served. The "Sweet 16" then wear the medals to graduation and are recognized again...It's a nice way to reward more than just the top two.</p>
<p>studious mom, that sounds like what my HS does. Seems fair enough to me.</p>
<p>Our school does an unweighted randing, no +'s or -'s, and will have, I believe, 16 vals this year. That's the top 5% of the class!</p>
<p>We still don't know who our graduation speaker (synonymous with valedictorian) will be. This is the only time our district acknowledges any type of ranking. The fact that our school has little grade inflation makes it harder to figure in that nobody ends up with straight As. Even our HYP kids have Bs on their record.</p>
<p>At S's HS seniors decide who the graduation speakers are going to be( always 2, a boy and a girl) . It has nothing to do with grades. Last year's speaches were eloquent, heartfelt and brought tears to my eyes( evidently the voters knew what they were doing) . Neither speaker was the highest ranked student academically. There were 3 Vals ( I am not sure how they are selected, I have always assumed my S will not be one, because of one B+ in his freshman year so I never cared to get into details) , but they got no special recognition at graduation becides a note in the bucklet .</p>
<p>Being valedictorian or salutatorian doesn't matter ten years from now, or even once your in college. </p>
<p>All the drama that goes on regarding this is in my opinion, is useless. Sorry, but you don't have to be either 1st or 2nd in your class to succeed in life.</p>
<p>I'd say that the drama is worse than useless. I look at it as actually counterproductive. It diverts the energies of students, parents, teachers and administrators away from the education and personal development of the students and towards managing tiny differences in GPA--miniscule, immaterial amounts which do not represent meaningful differences either in high school performance or in future prospects. </p>
<p>I am grateful that our school got rid of reporting exact class rank altogether. Our school simply reports GPA and decile rank to colleges. There is a process by which any graduating senior can apply to be a speaker at graduation.</p>
<p>With all due respect, a lot of the people in here, especially parents, need to relax. High school means nothing once you're into college, and a college isn't going to a reject a kid because they were #3 instead of #3. It's so ridiculous to focus on hundredths of percentage points, and I am appalled at whoever suggested that a kid should not have taken band or whatever because it's not weighted. These are KIDS. They need to have lives. Everything is not about being valedictorian. And parents need to put much less pressure on their kids. If your kid is inclined to work, they'll work. My parents have always told me not to work so hard, and I'm in the library 14 hours a day. The amount of pressure that a parent puts on a kid is not going to make the kid do better.</p>
<p>This is why the whole letter grade system sucks. I'm really glad my school has a grading system based on 100%. It eliminates the problems that the OP has, and at least choosing a val/sal is fair (the difference between 1 and 2 is less than a tenth and 2 and 3 is also really small, so everything might be different had we a 4.0 scale).</p>
<p>honestly, i could care less if someone is the val or sal. high school grades mean absolutely 0 once you're done high school... they're basically pointless in my eyes. i mean, i never went around putting my class rank or gpa on any of my resume's or anything (not even after i graduated from college) and i didn't have any problem getting a great job.</p>
<p>my high school graded on a 4.0 scale and a 93 was the same as a 100.. and it doesnt matter if you got a 93 or a 100 in the class, you still did great and deserve the same grade... who cares? welcome to life. college doesn't go around handing out 4.5's for classes, so i don't think you should get them in high school either. i don't think anyone should get a weighted grade in any class what so ever... and that's just my own personal opinion. </p>
<p>the whole thing is just pointless. it's all a clapfest.</p>
<p>I feel so lucky my son's high school avoids the entire V/S issue. But then his class is very small - 20 or 21 kids this year! Each student is given the opportunity to speak (some do, some don't) - they usually talk about their high school experience, thank teachers, parents and friends. And each student is presented by one of the teachers, the teacher talks about what is special about the student they are presenting and then presents the student with a small tree. There are no caps & gowns, just kids being themselves. Its a very moving afternoon!</p>
<p>Reporting a rank of #3 in one's class is no mean feat, palermo. At least your school apparently manages to distinguish between honors/AP and other classes by weighting. Plenty of schools use an unweighted letter grade scale, which results in numerous kids with 4.0 GPAs but wildly different levels of academic challenge. One can see 5, 10, or even 20 valedictorians... rendering the honor largely meaningless.</p>
<p>Years ago, my own high school used number grades. That was another way to avoid identical or nearly identical GPAs. My memory of ranking is a bit dim now, but it seemed like the top GPAs were earned by those taking honors classes, though virtually all top students were placed in those. I don't recall complaints about sandbagging or easy schedules, though the college admissions process was a lot different then, too.</p>
<p>As far as class rank calculations, some students at my son's school are bothered by the existence of a senior year honors gym option, for which you must apply and be selected. It is a peer mentoring/leadership program. Consquently, the one thing that is distinguishing this year's V from the S is that the V had gotten chosen and thus earned honors weighting for gym while the S didn't. There are conspiracy theories being murmured which speculate that the school wanted that child to be V because he was not a member of either of the ethnic minorities who are typically V's. While I doubt that is the case, my feeling is that there are plenty of awards for leadership and service. I think the honor of V. should be awarded based on course rigor and grades. In this case the S was willing to put in any extra effort but was not given the chance and thus is paying a high price. A similar issue arose within the junior class this year. There were not enough openings in the AP classes for all the interested juniors, and thus kids got turned away. The class assignment decision was made purely by the computer's scheduling program, which meant more highly qualified students were denied the chance to take AP biology or whatever while lesser students were allowed to do so. This will have class rank implications and is unfair.</p>
<p>PS I've heard that next year students will have to apply for every AP class they wish to take. This could avoid some problems but will cause others. How about the above average but not brilliant kid who just wants to take one or two AP's? If the decision on whom to allow into X class is based on past grade performance or overall perception of intelligence, etc. that child will get beaten out by the HPYS crew every time.</p>