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A Sequoia High School transcript is missing a piece of information that you would find on the transcript from a lot of other schools: individual class rank. We made the decision to expurgate this data point around 8 years ago with a rationale both practical and principled. I open school each year with remarks about intellectual risk-taking and growth mindset. When a teacher gives a student feedback, the subtext is, “I believe in you!” Grades can be a lot of things but, most importantly, they are a form of feedback. Inclusiveness and encouragement are in the cultural fabric of the school.
When every student can be reduced (usually by themselves) to a number comparing their grades to those of their classmates, we’re working against those ideals. A Place of Friends or a place of strife? Take, for example, a straight-A student who, because of weighting and the sheer quantity of high-achieving students, usually found themselves between the 80-85th percentile of their peers (i.e, ranked 400th). A 4.00 is outstanding work. Anything that, even implicitly, minimizes that type of achievement is an unacceptable practice.
We were not the first school to make this policy change, but several more, including schools in our district, have followed suit in the years since. Colleges and universities are indifferent to whether or not schools rank their students. Most have their own systems in place for assessing (i.e., weighting) a HS transcript, especially the most competitive.
I believe in distinguishing academic achievement at the highest level with commensurate recognition and will continue to do so with programs such as the California Scholarship Federation and the Academic Achievement Award given each year to elite seniors at graduation. Just last week I attended our AVID semester celebration and saw 400+ students cheering and stomping as their peers who had earned higher that a 3.0 GPA were recognized with a certificate. Later in the celebration, the class-wide averages were announced. These numbers elicited the biggest cheers. When we learned, for example, that Mr. Mora’s AVID III class had significantly improved their collective average from the previous semester, the students went wild.
I feel fortunate that Sequoia is not a school where classmates are sabotaging one another’s science labs or hoarding library materials to hamstring their classmates. This would be contrary to who we are and what we say we believe. We will always celebrate high achievement and excellence. We are proud to have more than our share of truly remarkable young people who strive to distinguish themselves through their dedication and discipline. We are proud that their success inspires, rather than discourages, the success of their peers. Unaliyi!
Have a great week!
Sean
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