From another post:
fixit said...
I apologize if anyone thinks I am attempting to highjack the thread, but it seem an appropriate time to ask for some professional help. I am trying hard to understand class rank in high school and the weighted/unweighted GPA impact to rank. Recently I became aware of a scholarship available only to the top 5% of a graduating class. One student was almost excluded because her unweighted GPA put her under the 5% line (by one position), which is used on transcripts. Her weighted GPA put her above the 5% line. How is valedictorian decided? Weighted or unweighted? And does the policy come from PPS or PDE? Does this only apply to PPS because we are a CAS district as opposed to an AP/honors district?
March 31, 2009 7:15 PM
Anonymous said...
In answer to the class rank question, according to the 2005-6 student handbook, the unweighted average inluding phys ed, health, and summer school is used to calculate class rank. Weighted class rank is calculated for post-secondary institutions interested in the level of the academic program pursued by graduates as high school students.
March 31, 2009 7:31 PM
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7 comments:
It would seem that since PPS provides both weighted and unweighted rank, the recipient can choose which to use. In other words, just because PPS chooses to use unweighted for valedictorian, etc., that doesn't mean that colleges and scholarship funds would also have to choose to use the unweighted rank.
Recommendation: In filling out the application, write in the weighted rank and in parentheses after that put "(weighted)." Chances are they'll accept it.
The official PPS rank (unweighted) will be on the transcript so it isn't just a matter of choice. The transcript also includes the weighted average but I don't remember if it explains that the class rank is based on the unweighted. It doesn't seem fair that the kid taking the more rigorous course can be outranked by someone taking easier courses. I thought the weighted classes was to overcome that but not the way that PPS figures class rank.
This post raises an issue that may come up with "themed" schools. College admissions and scholarships may still be geared toward the most common arrangement, which is a comprehensive school. Students taking the most difficult courses in PPS were always set back to some extent by the fact that the difficulty of their courses was not considered at all in computing class rank, so that a student with straight A's in less demanding classes could and often would finish with a significantly higher rank than a student taking the toughest classes and receiving a B or two.
What may happen now in a "themed" IB or sci tech school is that students work hard at classes that are much harder than the average Pittsburgh high school class (at least for 11 and 12 IB; 9th and 10 grade IB is apparently not very difficult) but finish with ranks in the bottom half of the class. Maybe these schools should move toward not ranking students.
The transcipt will have both, but if you apply by listing the weighted rank the scholarship could very easily agree and apply that even if it notices that the unweighted rank is lower.
I will double check, but I believe the transcript does NOT contain both.
My HS senior just asked for the weighted average to be added to the transcript and they typed it on.
QUESTIONER, thanks, I plan to pass that on to all the parents I can reach at my school. i will also suggest it become SOP (standard operation procedure). Yippee.
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