Does anyone think this situation is unfair?

[browneyes106]

My cousin is a teacher at small high school with close to 300 students. There are 61 students in the senior class. My cousin is also the National Honor Society sponsor and her step son is a senior at the school and an NHS member. Last week she was approached by several NHS members and their parents about a situation regarding class rankings.

There is a senior who is a special ed student. The student has several learning disabilities and reads at a 6th grade level. She takes special ed courses and electives and she has managed to have between 3.5 to 4.0 GPA. Several NHS members are upset because this girl is ranked sort of high and several NHS members are ranked below the girl in class rankings. They approached my cousin to see if she would join them to petition against the girl graduating with honors. My cousin is getting pressured by her husband, stepson and the boy's mom. She does agree with them mainly because she knows what a lot of the NHS members deal with in getting good grades. My cousin is unsure of what to do in the situation. She feels that the issue could get really out of hand. I personally think special education students should be ranked after non special ed students in class rankings. Something similar happened back when I was in high school.

What do you think about the situation?

 

[Mermaid02]

I think this is a big 'ol mess waiting to happen. It seems the girl has ranked very well in respect to her ability. Let the interested parties take it up with the school board. If I were your sister I would stay as far away from it as possible.

 

[Savanah'sMom]

I might have an unpopular opinion but I don't think it's fair to take away the SE student's honor. This child probably worked just as hard if not harder to get these grades. Maybe the other NHS members could learn to have a little compassion.

Now, I understand the whole class rank thing b/c of scholarships and such but that shouldn't take away someone graduating with honors.

I, also, agree with Loreli. Your sister needs to stay faraway from this.

 

[FireDancer]

When I was in high school there was a weight added to the grade for ranking. An A earned in a level 1 class (special ed) was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 2 class (normal) which in turn was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 3 class (honors).

In that situation someone taking some level 3 classes and earning a 3.5 would be ranked higher than a student taking all level 2 classes and earning a 3.5. If anyone took any level 1 classes and had a 3.5 they would be ranked 3rd of the 3.

 

[DizBelle]

My cousin is a teacher at small high school with close to 300 students. There are 61 students in the senior class. My cousin is also the National Honor Society sponsor and her step son is a senior at the school and an NHS member. Last week she was approached by several NHS members and their parents about a situation regarding class rankings.

There is a senior who is a special ed student. The student has several learning disabilities and reads at a 6th grade level. She takes special ed courses and electives and she has managed to have between 3.5 to 4.0 GPA. Several NHS members are upset because this girl is ranked sort of high and several NHS members are ranked below the girl in class rankings. They approached my cousin to see if she would join them to petition against the girl graduating with honors. My cousin is getting pressured by her husband, stepson and the boy's mom. She does agree with them mainly because she knows what a lot of the NHS members deal with in getting good grades. My cousin is unsure of what to do in the situation. She feels that the issue could get really out of hand. I personally think special education students should be ranked after non special ed students in class rankings. Something similar happened back when I was in high school.

What do you think about the situation?

What does the NHS "handbook" or "guidlines" say about the criteria for being a memeber of NHS? I would bet that they are pretty well defined. If this girl meets the criteria, then she should be allowed to be a member of NHS and ranked along with the other students.

If there are many students that do not agree with the criteria (they think a student must have a minimum number of non special-ed classes or must demonstrate a grade-level proficience in certain subjects), then they need to see about changing the criteria. But, I would think it might be too late to do anything about it this year.

I would think that there are few students that have the exact same classes so there are few students whose GPAs are actually comparable. So the same situation could exist between students none of which are in special-ed. Are any NHS members having an issue with any other students with the same or higher GPA but are in "easier" classes?

I think your cousin should follow the rule book but guide the students in steps they need to take to change the rules if they don't like them.

 

[KandD]

When I was in high school there was a weight added to the grade for ranking. An A earned in a level 1 class (special ed) was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 2 class (normal) which in turn was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 3 class (honors).

In that situation someone taking some level 3 classes and earning a 3.5 would be ranked higher than a student taking all level 2 classes and earning a 3.5. If anyone took any level 1 classes and had a 3.5 they would be ranked 3rd of the 3.

It was the same in my high school.

I agree that this is a mess waiting to happen. Your sister should stay out of it. What are the specific reasons the students are upset? Will she be eligible for scholarships that they will not be if ranked below her? I ask because if it is just because of the class rank, in all honesty, no one cares once you get out of high school where you ranked (unless you were valedictorian or salutatorian). So what seems like devastation now (being 8th compared to 7th or whatever) will be nothing a year from now UNLESS like I said there are scholarships on the line here.

ETA: Sorry, I meant your cousin, don't know where I got sister from!

 

[allison443]

In my dd's high school the grades received in classes are "weighted" according to the difficulty level of each class. So an A in an AP class is worth more than an A in an honors, regular or remedial class. This weighted gpa is used to determine class rank. So someone with As and Bs in AP/honors classes would be ranked ahead of someone with straight As in regular or remedial classes. I thought this was pretty common-doesn't your cousin's school do that?

If not, I wouldn't have a problem with kids having a petition to change the weighting/class ranking system in general. However, a petition aimed at preventing a particular kid from graduating with honors? I think it's very tacky and mean-spirited. How does that student graduating with honors even impact them? They are in NHS and presumably they are graduating with honors. It's really too late for the class rank issue to affect them...college applications should all be in by now.

Also, your cousin is the NHS advisor-does she even have any influence on determining who graduates with honors? If the student meets the established criteria, I think it's unfair to take it away from her this late in the game.JMO.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

When I was in high school there was a weight added to the grade for ranking. An A earned in a level 1 class (special ed) was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 2 class (normal) which in turn was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 3 class (honors).

In that situation someone taking some level 3 classes and earning a 3.5 would be ranked higher than a student taking all level 2 classes and earning a 3.5. If anyone took any level 1 classes and had a 3.5 they would be ranked 3rd of the 3.

Interesting! Finally a real use for weighting grades. I could see why weighting grades is important for situations like this.

Now if the grades are not weighted, tough nuts to the NHS kids.

That is District Policy and I would point on the rules/guidlines in the handbooks. A teacher cannot change that. I do agree with PP that the student should be petitioning against the policy and not a particular student.

 

[Scurvy]

When I was in high school there was a weight added to the grade for ranking. An A earned in a level 1 class (special ed) was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 2 class (normal) which in turn was not worth as much as an A earned in a level 3 class (honors).

In that situation someone taking some level 3 classes and earning a 3.5 would be ranked higher than a student taking all level 2 classes and earning a 3.5. If anyone took any level 1 classes and had a 3.5 they would be ranked 3rd of the 3.

My school did this as well, after a year when a vocational student who was taking the bare minimum of academic classes beat out the Honors students as valedictorian.

OP, this sounds like it could get ugly. I completely understand why the NHS members are upset, and I hope that this won't affect their chances at scholarships. I don't see a good way to change things for this year, unfortunately, but maybe she should suggest the system FireDancer mentioned as a possiblility to avoid this situation in the future.

 

[jme829]

I might have an unpopular opinion but I don't think it's fair to take away the SE student's honor. This child probably worked just as hard if not harder to get these grades. Maybe the other NHS members could learn to have a little compassion.

Now, I understand the whole class rank thing b/c of scholarships and such but that shouldn't take away someone graduating with honors.

I, also, agree with Loreli. Your sister needs to stay faraway from this.

 

[allison443]

My cousin is a teacher at small high school with close to 300 students. There are 61 students in the senior class. My cousin is also the National Honor Society sponsor and her step son is a senior at the school and an NHS member. Last week she was approached by several NHS members and their parents about a situation regarding class rankings.

There is a senior who is a special ed student. The student has several learning disabilities and reads at a 6th grade level. She takes special ed courses and electives and she has managed to have between 3.5 to 4.0 GPA. Several NHS members are upset because this girl is ranked sort of high and several NHS members are ranked below the girl in class rankings. They approached my cousin to see if she would join them to petition against the girl graduating with honors. My cousin is getting pressured by her husband, stepson and the boy's mom. She does agree with them mainly because she knows what a lot of the NHS members deal with in getting good grades. My cousin is unsure of what to do in the situation. She feels that the issue could get really out of hand. I personally think special education students should be ranked after non special ed students in class rankings. Something similar happened back when I was in high school.

What do you think about the situation?

I reread your post-what does "graduating with honors" mean? Does it mean being in a certain top percentage of the class, being an NHS member, or something else? Is this girl in the NHS? Or is she ranked in the top percentage like top 15% or something that qualifies as "graduating with honors" and is thus beating out an NHS member? I could see how that could happen with a small senior class.
What does graduating with honors mean at the ceremony, if anything? A special mention in the program? An asterisk next to the graduate's name? Wearing a special drape or cord over the graduating robe?

 

[browneyes106]

What does the NHS "handbook" or "guidlines" say about the criteria for being a memeber of NHS? I would bet that they are pretty well defined. If this girl meets the criteria, then she should be allowed to be a member of NHS and ranked along with the other students.

If there are many students that do not agree with the criteria (they think a student must have a minimum number of non special-ed classes or must demonstrate a grade-level proficience in certain subjects), then they need to see about changing the criteria. But, I would think it might be too late to do anything about it this year.

I would think that there are few students that have the exact same classes so there are few students whose GPAs are actually comparable. So the same situation could exist between students none of which are in special-ed. Are any NHS members having an issue with any other students with the same or higher GPA but are in "easier" classes?

I think your sister should follow the rule book but guide the students in steps they need to take to change the rules if they don't like them.

The student isn't an NHS member. My cousin told me that NHS rules vary from chapter to chapter. The chapter that the school is under doesn't induct special ed students. My cousin reviewed a current class ranking with the school's guidance counselor a few days ago. She said that in the top 25 the special ed is ranked 11th. Most of the students in the top 25 are NHS members and my cousin has said that even a few students who aren't in NHS are upset about the girl's ranking. The issue is more with class rankings.

 

[allison443]

Interesting! Finally a real use for weighting grades. I could see why weighting grades is important for situations like this.

Now if the grades are not weighted, tough nuts to the NHS kids.

That is District Policy and I would point on the rules/guidlines in the handbooks. A teacher cannot change that. I do agree with PP that the student should be petitioning against the policy and not a particular student.

Weighting grades also can encourage kids to take the more challenging courses, rather than getting easy As in regular level classes.

 

[browneyes106]

I reread your post-what does "graduating with honors" mean? Does it mean being in a certain top percentage of the class, being an NHS member, or something else? Is this girl in the NHS? Or is she ranked in the top percentage like top 15% or something that qualifies as "graduating with honors" and is thus beating out an NHS member? I could see how that could happen with a small senior class.
What does graduating with honors mean at the ceremony, if anything? A special mention in the program? An asterisk next to the graduate's name? Wearing a special drape or cord over the graduating robe?

Basically it means getting an honor cord, asterisk by the name, and being ranked in a certain percentage. Due the GPA of the girl she has around 3.8 GPA and there are NHS members whose GPA's are slightly below that. I agree with you it probably happened because of small senior class.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The student isn't an NHS member. My cousin told me that NHS rules vary from chapter to chapter. The chapter that the school is under doesn't induct special ed students. My cousin reviewed a current class ranking with the school's guidance counselor a few days ago. She said that in the top 25 the special ed is ranked 11th. Most of the students in the top 25 are NHS members and my cousin has said that even a few students who aren't in NHS are upset about the girl's ranking. The issue is more with class rankings.

So tell the students that they need to change district policy with regard to rankings. There is no other option here.

 

[tasha99]

Sounds like a bunch of those kids and parents have high intelligence IQ's and low social/emotional IQ's. I would NOT get involved, and I would not feel good about taking away a special education student's recognition for her achievement.

 

[allison443]

The student isn't an NHS member. My cousin told me that NHS rules vary from chapter to chapter. The chapter that the school is under doesn't induct special ed students. My cousin reviewed a current class ranking with the school's guidance counselor a few days ago. She said that in the top 25 the special ed is ranked 11th. Most of the students in the top 25 are NHS members and my cousin has said that even a few students who aren't in NHS are upset about the girl's ranking. The issue is more with class rankings.

How do these students know the rankings? At my dd's school the rankings aren't public information, except for #1 and #2 (valedictorian and salutatorian). Of course the kids know their own, and there are always a few kids who try to figure out where everyone ranks, who is ahead of who, etc. I sincerely hope your cousin did not reveal this student's ranking to her stepson or the other students in NHS. (Not saying she did).

I also think it's wrong for people to be pressuring your cousin on this issue. I don't see how she can do anything about it. Let them go through the proper channels to get the procedure changed for the future. I don't think it's fair to anyone to change things retroactively.

 

[cheermom1]

I can see why the other kids are upset especially with a 6th grade reading level...but if this is just class ranking and it doesn;t matter beyond grad. than I say leave it alone or the kids can petition that it be changed for the future...

 

[robinb]

My cousin is a teacher at small high school with close to 300 students. There are 61 students in the senior class. My cousin is also the National Honor Society sponsor and her step son is a senior at the school and an NHS member. Last week she was approached by several NHS members and their parents about a situation regarding class rankings.

There is a senior who is a special ed student. The student has several learning disabilities and reads at a 6th grade level. She takes special ed courses and electives and she has managed to have between 3.5 to 4.0 GPA. Several NHS members are upset because this girl is ranked sort of high and several NHS members are ranked below the girl in class rankings. They approached my cousin to see if she would join them to petition against the girl graduating with honors. My cousin is getting pressured by her husband, stepson and the boy's mom. She does agree with them mainly because she knows what a lot of the NHS members deal with in getting good grades. My cousin is unsure of what to do in the situation. She feels that the issue could get really out of hand. I personally think special education students should be ranked after non special ed students in class rankings. Something similar happened back when I was in high school.

What do you think about the situation?

I don't see what this accomplishes except for making everyone else like a complete Horse's Butt. The girl got A's and B's in the classes that were challenging for her. She worked just as hard if not harder than some of the kids below her. Let her graduate with honors and retain her ranking in her class. I find it really sad that they are so self-absorbed that they cannot celebrate the accomplishments of a girl with several learning disabilities because they think it detracts from their own glory.

 

[golfgal]

In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter ALL that much if you are ranked 8th or 9th in your class-which is all this girl is doing to someone's ranking--now if it were 50 places, ok, different issue. I think this might be a good lesson for the kids to learn about compassion and understanding and SOMEONE, like the principal or a guidance counselor, REALLY needs to put this into perspective for the kids, then, in a couple years when this is all forgotten, institute some kind of a system to rank honor's classes differently.

I can really see both sides of the issue but since there is only one special ed student it could get really, really, really ugly for the school legally. I would not sign my name on ANYTHING related to his issue because it will only come back to bite you in the rear.

Our high school doesn't weight grades differently but they do have a total school ranking and and honors ranking. If you don't take any honors classes you can't get an honors ranking, the more honors classes you take, the more they count for the ranking. It is THIS ranking they use to determine who graduates with the different honor's levels. If you don't take honors classes you can't graduate with honors, period.