Graduates with a 4.0 GPA or higher will receive the honor of graduating “with excellence,” 3.5 to 3.9 GPA will graduate “with honors” and 3.0 to 3.49 with graduate “with distinction.”
The policy eliminates the former Top 10 tradition, which called on schools to recognize graduates who obtained the 10 highest GPAs, including valedictorian and salutatorian.
Hundreds of students at Bay District Schools challenge themselves with weighted advanced courses; but under the former policy, “only 10 students at each high school were recognized for their extraordinary work and achievements,” said Suzanne Farrar, director of secondary and adult instructional services at Bay District Schools, in an email.
“The new policy allows more students to be recognized for their exceptional work,” she wrote.
Response from parents and students has been “overwhelmingly” positive, according to Farrar. They are “excited to acknowledge and recognize more students who have performed exceptionally.”
“I’m glad it’s gone because it created a lot of needless, I think, competition between students that distracted from the ultimate goal: learning,” Carson Summers, a 2010 Mosley graduate, said in a post on The News Herald’s Facebook page. “Besides, Top 10 may seem important in high school, but in college more important (skills include) the ability to work in groups and collaborate with classmates, which I think Top 10 discourages.”
But others disagreed.
Wendy Guiles posted: “This is truly sad. My son is entering high school as an honor student … Why reach for the stars when the brightest ones are no longer there? (And) settle for mediocre like the rest of society; not a good move at all.”
High school principals initiated the discussion as far back as summer 2010, when the School Board approved the policy change. Principals viewed Top 10 as overly exclusive, noting a number of students enroll in the more rigorous courses and should be recognized for their achievements.
Few school districts continue to use Top 10 as a means to recognize their top students, according to Farrar. And few colleges and universities award valedictorian scholarships anymore.
“A student graduating at the top of their class means very little if the curriculum is not rigorous,” Farrar wrote. “That being said, a student’s transcript is much more telling of their success than a class rank.”
Senior recognition ceremonies, where a number of categories honor individual students for specific achievements, continue to be held at each high school.