Research (Second Post of Many)

Schools Avoid Class Ranking

Alan Finder of the New York Times reports in 2006 about the growing trend of high schools dismissing their class ranking systems from their students college applications. Angry, colleges argue that class ranking helps colleges see the excellence of a student relative to the rest of the class of the school. Without a ranking system, colleges are forced to weigh standardized test scores more heavily, which hurts the students applying. High schools argue that class rankings have lead to cutthroat, high-tension competition among students, which led to a hostile learning environment. In addition, high schools stated that rankings are unfair among small schools with smaller percentiles and schools with a highly elite class. High schools argue that the difference between the top 10 and the top 20 in schools is minute; without a class ranking, colleges are forced to look at students more fully rather than just the number assigned to them.