LHS Will No Longer Report Class Rank on Student Transcripts

Beginning with the Class of 2014, will no longer report class rank.

District 210 school board members voted unanimously during their Nov. 14 business meeting to eliminate class rank from student transcripts, starting with the high school's current sophomore class.

When required, class rank will be provided to colleges, universities or scholarship organizations through the school's guidance office. However, the information will not be given to students or parents, according to district officials.

The issue of class rank first came before the school board during its October board meeting, when social studies teacher Rob Hammerschmidt presented a study by the school’s Grading Practices Committee.

During the presentation, he said certain students could be at a disadvantage when reporting class rank due to the high number of Lemont High School students with strong grade point averages. Since a student’s rank may not reflect his or her GPA, that student may be at a disadvantage when competing against students from less competitive high schools for admissions to university programs or scholarships, he said.

Tony Hamilton, director of school and community relations for District 210, said Lemont High School’s “academic rigor” and its student’s academic success “has diminished the significance of a good GPA when viewed in conjunction with class rank.”

For example, a 3.20 GPA at Lemont High School does not equate to the same rank as it may at other high schools, he said.

The Class of 2011 had 347 students; the student who ranked 174th – just below the top half of the class – had a cumulative GPA of 3.274.

Typically, more than 60 percent of the student body earns a GPA that places them on the high honor roll, Hamilton said.

Additionally, the Grading Practices Committee found that class rank creates anxiety and conflict for many students who feel “forced” to take Honors or Advanced Placement courses in order to earn the weighted credit and remain competitive. Many students opt not to take electives in their areas of interest because those classes often don’t carry the additional weight of an honors-or AP-level course, Hamilton said.

“Eliminating the reporting of class rank still will allow the school to offer a challenging curriculum, but also will allow students to enroll in courses that are of interest to them or in a field they plan to study in the future — not just those that will give them a GPA boost,” he said.

According to Hamilton, a number of area high schools have eliminated class rank in recent years, including Naperville Central and Naperville North (District 203); Andrew, Sandburg and Stagg (District 230), Hinsdale South, York and Niles West.

Other schools — including Riverside-Brookfield, Downers Grove North and Downers Grove South — are considering the change, he said.

According to a Chicago Tribune report, a 2007 survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling found that 78.4 percent of public high schools were reporting class rank to colleges and universities. Nearly 11 percent of private schools do so, according to the report.

The Tribune also reported that the state’s premier public university, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has seen fewer transcripts include class rank in recent years. Last year, an estimated 59 percent of applicants reported class rank.

During last month’s board meeting, Hammerschmidt said many of the schools to which Lemont students regularly apply — Illinois State University, Loyola University Chicago, University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, to name a few — do consider class rank. Some schools, such as the University of Illinois-Chicago and Marquette, may consider class rank, but do not request it if the information is not already provided.

In cases where a college or university does require class rank, Lemont High School will provide it.

In years past, Lemont High School has honored the "top two percent" of each graduating class. Although top-performing seniors will still be recognized during Senior Honors Night, the school will no longer recognize the top two percent, Hamilton said.