BERKELEY TWP. - Starting in the 2014-15 academic year, class rankings at Central Regional High School may be a thing of the past to discourage students from taking easy classes to their pad their status, school board members said on Thursday.
Discussions about eliminating class ranks are in the formative stages.
Susan Cowdrick, the board member representing Island Heights who also serves on the education committee, said the district would present information about where students rank in percentage terms to colleges that ask for it.
"If you don't concentrate on ranking, the students will take those harder classes," Cowdrick said. As it stands, students get slight multiplier effect on their grades for taking honors (1.1 times their grade) or Advanced Placement (1.15 times) courses, Cowdrick said.
Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides said other districts have opted to do away with class rankings. He has seen many scholarship applicants from very well qualified students who had no class rank, when he was judging scholarships in his civic activities.
