Area school districts moving away from class rank

Class rank is about to become a thing of the past for most seniors at two area high schools.

It’s part of a trend in which some schools are eliminating the practice because they say it causes students to avoid taking certain classes and creates unnecessary competition and stress in pursuit of a ranking many colleges no longer look at or give little weight to.
The current school year is the last one in which all seniors at Patchogue-Medford High School will receive class rank. Starting with the Class of 2026, only the senior class valedictorian, salutatorian and essayist will receive class rank.

Bellport High School is eliminating class rank for all but the senior class valedictorian and salutatorian starting with the Class of 2028. The class essayist, previously the student with the third highest grade point average, will be selected through a writing competition.

Bellport will instead recognize top performing seniors as those with highest honors or honors, depending on their grade point average.

Pat-Med will classify graduating seniors as either summa cum laude, magna cum laude or cum laude based on GPA, similar to the system colleges use.

Between 20 percent and 25 percent of seniors are expected to fall into one of those categories, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction Lori Cannetti said.

That would recognize a wider number of students than just the top 10, Cannetti said.

At Bellport, 25 students in the class of 2024 had a GPA of 100 or higher which meant many students who had a high GPA didn’t make the top 10.

“I totally believe in competition,” South Country superintendent of schools Antonio Santana said. “Kids should always strive to do their best. We’re just allowing more students to be celebrated for their achievement.”

Many colleges don’t consider class rank in deciding who to admit but instead look for students who take a varied and challenging course load, Cannetti said.

It’s also not a meaningful metric for comparing students from different schools that weigh courses differently in calculating GPA, she said.

The districts say they didn’t make these changes lightly.

Both districts sought input from a wide range of groups, including students, before making the change.

Neither district said they saw much pushback from students or parents wanting to keep the current system. Rather, it was a change students wanted to see.

“They felt a lot of stress and negative competition,” South Country director of guidance and counseling programs Jenna Restivo said.

Restivo said some students were avoiding taking courses in which they felt they might not get a top grade or avoided taking electives in topics that interest them, such as music and art, because they aren’t weighted as heavily in calculating a student’s GPA.

The same thing has been happening at Pat-Med.

The idea behind the change is to “really encourage students to take courses they really love,” Cannetti said.

William Floyd has no plans to discontinue class rank, a district spokesman said.