Sauk Prairie School District proposes change to grading system at High School

Sauk Prairie High School administrators are looking to change the way students are academically assessed. Sauk Prairie High School Principal Chad Harnisch proposed the laude system for assessing students at the Nov. 11 school board meeting. School officials began reviewing the current grading system after making the change from a semester to a trimester schedule, Harnisch said. “After addressing the change in schedule, we agreed as a staff to look into grading and grade reporting,” Harnisch said. He said early into the two-year study, staff identified ways to make Sauk Prairie High School grades more meaningful, which included eliminating its class rank system. Besides statistical research, Harnish said they looked to other schools for inspiration. “We found most use a version of the laude system,” he said. “So that’s how other schools solved the problem.” As part of that investigation, Harnisch said a book they read titled, “On Your Mark,” delves into challenges with the current grading system and tackling the question of whether or not to use class rank as an academic indicator. “Our faculty agreed, almost a year ago looking at class rank and considering how we look at getting rid of it, was a good next step in our reform process,” Harnisch said. Some of the reasons for the requested change in assessment include questionable validity with the current grading system, an impact on college admission, avoidance of high-rigor classes and undue stress on the student. GPA, or Grade Point Average, utilizes a point system for every grade in every class, then averaging those points together to create a grade point average, then ranking students numerically based on the number of points they have obtained. Currently the high school reports students’ GPAs and class rank on all transcripts. “Class rank could be a valid statistic for helping us to understand students’ relative performance – if every kid took the exact same classes with the exact same teachers,” Harnisch said. “If you don’t have that system in place … then the GPA is different because there are different inputs and then the rank becomes statistically invalid. It takes a lot of individual pieces of data, putting them into an aggregate and ranking them sort of arbitrarily. “ Harnisch said in the fight for class rank, it can lead students to make sub-optimal decisions. “They avoid classes in some cases that are of high rigor for fear a B could be the thing that keeps them from being in the top 10,” he said, “As opposed to taking that class, getting a B and learning a great deal in that class – they avoid that opportunity.” Studies have also shown the class rank system also creates excessive competition between classmates, and can lead to an unwillingness to take academic and intellectual risks. Further, if the student does take the rigorous class and gets a B, or takes the exact same class as someone they are in competition with, but they have different teachers with different grading philosophies, “You get the higher rank just because of the luck of the draw of the assignment of staff,” Harnisch said. Assigning class rank can also prevent a student from getting a scholarship, and sometimes parental pressure on a student not to risk losing a scholarship, can lead a student to avoid rigorous classes in order to maintain class rank. At Sauk Prairie High School, about 30 students make up the top 15 percent of any given class. Harnisch said a 3.8-3.9 GPA is the floor for the top 15 percent. Those 30 students are squeezed into the range of possible GPAs above 3.8 or 3.9, creating a “pretty small difference in GPA resulting in a very large difference in rank,” Harnisch said. He said in some cases, the number one ranked student and number 30 ranked student can be separated by two tenths of a point on a GPA. “That’s only because we have weighted grades, which allows for an above 4.0 grade point average,” Harnisch said. “That even further complicates the system.” More and more high schools across the country are switching to a laude system – following suit from colleges. A statistic written about by Eric Hoover in the 2012 article, “High School Class Rank: A Slippery Metric, Loses Appeal for Colleges,” reports only 19 percent of colleges now give ‘considerable importance’ to class rank when considering applicants. Local school districts – including Baraboo, DeForest, Monona Grove, Fort Atkinson, Monroe, Mount Horeb, Oregon, Reedsburg, Stoughton, Watertown, Waunakee, River Valley, Wisconsin Dells, Lodi and Verona among them – have either stopped reporting class rank or will be phasing out class rank in the near future. Also, more than half of U.S. high schools are eliminating use of class rank. Of the colleges still considering rank, class rank is only one element of college admissions. Without it, other factors – such as class rigor, strength of grades according to rigor, ACT/SAT scores, activities/volunteerism/work experience and recommendations and essays become more important. Further, statistics have proven schools that have eliminated class rank have experienced an increase in the number of students admitted to competitive and highly selective colleges. The laude system proposed by the high school would emphasize rigor in a student’s academic achievements, Harnisch said. Comprised of three-tiers, students earning highest honors would be classified as summa cum laude, those with high honors would be categorized as magna cum laude, and students achieving honors would fit into the cum laude tier. Competition against a standard, not other students, would motive and encourage classes with rigor, take academic risks and be assessed more accurately, Harnisch said. He said early feedback from parents and students is the GPA system is stressful, antiquated and not a good measure. “Most high-achieving students and their parents are grateful to get rid of it,” Harnisch said. “I anticipate it to be a welcome change.” In other board news, Bridges Elementary School Principal Chanda Kulow presented the school’s annual review, with a look at what the school is currently working toward. Kulow said the school has been tasked with ensuring each student gains one year’s growth in reading, as measured by the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark System. To prepare for tests, teachers utilize the system’s leveled books, a running record sheet for teachers to record students’ progress while reading, group students according to their specific needs, create reading partnerships and establish literacy goals. School Board Clerk Richard Talmage announced the deadline for incumbent school board members to file candidacy papers is 5 p.m. January 7, 2020. Incumbents up for reelection are Mary Ann Marx and Richard Judge. Marx represents the towns of Berry, Mazomanie, Roxbury, Dane and Springfield, while Judge represents the villages of Sauk City and Prairie du Sac. If a primary is necessary, it would be held February 18. The general election date is April 7, 2020.