Williamson County schools will eliminate class rank

With the declining importance of class rank in college applications, Williamson County Schools has decided to eliminate class rank.

The Williamson County school board approved the amended class rank policy Monday night.

School officials do not anticipate the change to deter student ambition as GPA and rigorous courses are still main factors in college admissions.

But for students fixated on rank, it could be one less thing to worry about.

Class rank will be restricted to the top 10 percent for the classes of 2018 and 2019. For the class of 2020 and beyond, class rank will not exist.

Schools will still recognize high achieving students.

Schools will honor students who earn a 3.75 GPA or higher. Additionally, GPA will no longer be the sole factor for determining valedictorians and salutatorians.

The importance of class rank is declining in college applications and scholarships, according to district staff.

The district asked 89 colleges last year if rank would impact student admissions and scholarships. Nearly 87 percent  of the schools said class rank would have no impact at all.

For colleges that do ask for college rank, class rank is just one factor of a holistic application. Colleges are able to estimate a student's rank.

Student stress was also a factor in eliminating class rank.

Some students felt pressured to only take advanced classes for the sake of raising their GPA, according to a staff survey. This prevented students from taking standard classes they were interested in.

And in a high achieving school district like WCS, class rank is not a complete picture of a student's academic success. A student could rank in the 100s even with a high GPA, according to the survey.

The majority of staff were opposed to class rank, according to the survey.

While schools will eliminate class rank, they will still recognize high-achieving students using the Latin honors system.

• Summa Cum Laude: 4.25 and above
• Magna Cum Laude: 4.00 - 4.24
• Cum Laude: 3.75-3.99

Reach Melanie Balakit at mbalakit@tennessean.com.

New valedictorian and salutatorian criteria

• Student must achieve a 4.25 GPA or higher.  
• Student must take end-of-year exams for all their AP courses and must achieve a score of 3 or above on 75 percent of AP exams taken.
• Student must complete at least 20 hours of community service outside of service required by other organizations. Student must provide documentation of hours to their counselor.
• The highest achieved ACT composite score will serve as a tiebreaker.