<p>No matter which system is used, there will always be students who benefit and students who lose. I hear the poster above me, but in some cases, students can game the system via Fine Arts classes because the grades are always 100, if not higher for honors. Again, no system is perfect. </p>
<p>In my opinion, there are only a few things one can do: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>make sure to understand the rules before the start of the 9th grade.</p></li>
<li><p>try to find a FINAL transcript for a senior student</p></li>
<li><p>try to obtain an explanation or a tailored transcript that correctly reflects the situation. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>In the case of the OP, it is possible that the actual discrepancy will erode by the time the final transcript is issued. Also, the school might be willing to make exceptions and issue a special transcript. For some reason, I believe that the LDS top students might very well apply to BYU, which may induce the school to help you in applying to different schools.</p>
I couldn’t agree more. In my sister’s kid’s school’s case (ha ha! Three possessives in a row!) - see post #38 - the written rules differ from what the computer prgram is set up to do, and as I said, only those “in the know” (and I don’t know how they got in the know, other than by figuring the GPA themselves an comparing it to the one they get each year from the school. Or perhaps it has just been passed on by word-of-mouth) benefit. My sister’s kid did not benefit because they found out too late.</p>
<p>Even if the HS does not rank, a student who is in the top 10% can very easily can bumped down by the way gpa is calculated. And that can make or break an admission, being in the top decile or the second decile.</p>
<p>Choco and SBmom, some schools without rank won’t even designate the decile of a student. Our school won’t give you any more than your grade and your narrative. No rank, no decile, no GPA…not for internal or external purposes. Students don’t know if they are in the top 10% or bottom 10%.</p>
<p>Class rank computation is NOT an exact science. Your son’s class rank is still very good. After a major SNAFU ( incorrect calculation of weighted GPAs at DD’s school) the class ranks were recalculated at dd’s high school. The number 1 kid moved to number 3 and her parents FLIPPED OUT (mostly at ME because <em>I</em> was the one who discovered the calculation error). When the formula correction was finally made, the school also made he decision to report class rank in deciles (top 10%, 20% etc) which also made this parent NUTS (how could her child who was number 3/195 be in the same category as someone who was 19/195?). Bottom line is your child’s course load and stats will stand on their own two feet in the end. Many colleges recompute GPA anyway for their own purposes. HOWEVER…if you do feel the formula is faulty, that is another story. I would suggest researching that with other schools (that’s what I did when I found the “error” in our formula) and be prepared to demonstrate why this is not in the best interest of ALL students (in my case, the weighted GPA for honors students was LOWER than the unweighted…certainly did not benefit all students taking honors and AP courses). You need to show how your schools calculations affect all students like your son’s…not just your son’s. If you do, you will likely be able to get them to at least consider this issue.</p>
<p>Before framing this as a church/state issue, I would ask whether this option is available only to the Mormon seminary kids, or can other groups or individuals engaging other outside activities do something similar? Perhaps the Mormons are just the largest or most visible goup taking advantage of this option. Or perhaps there are plently of others, but the issue doesn’t come up in those instances because they don’t have a bunch of kids with near-top grades.</p>
<p>lkf725 - Our PHS recently modified the calculation of weighted GPA, which is used for val/sal, top 10% recognition. The reason for the modification was the disadvantage for kids who took courses which are “unleveled” - esp. Fine Arts and even Latin, which do not offer Honors options. If you think you can convince your district to consider this approach and want more info, or contact people at our district, PM me.</p>
<p>In my opinion, it doesn’t matter. If the seminary course appears or is even mentioned on the child’s transcript, there is an argument that it violates state law prohibiting secular education in public schools. If the seminary student is still considered “at school” and the time when he attends seminary is within the normal school day, the argument is even stronger as he is likely considered to be “in school” during religious education.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think the school district has a major problem here. I wouldn’t frame it as a matter of equal protection but as a seeming violation of state law, i.e. it is not a violation of state law to be on a work-release program but it is to be on a religious based program.</p>
<p>To avoid any confusion, this is my personal opinion, not legal opinion. I am not familiar with Idaho law any moreso than any other parent who has internet access.</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with the case, but I assumed that the students would not be getting any high school credit for the religious instruction, nor would it be on their transcript as anything other than having taken one less class. If this is not the case, then I would agree there is a problem.</p>
<p>I would think that since most of them are applying to BYU, it probably appears in some form on their school records but that’s a guess. I think work-release has to appear, otherwise it looks like a child only goes to school half day with no explanation. Also, if students are required to take 8 classes, and there are some who do not, there must be a notation on their transcripts. If it so much as says “student leaves after 7th period for seminary” I’d be all over that like white on rice. In any event, the school is allowing the child to leave early to attend religious class, and by doing so I think there is a great argument that the state is sanctioning religion.</p>
<p>my daughters school didn’t rank or have S/V
I am also surprised that religious instruction takes place of a class in a public school.
My nieces had to attend ( lds) religous classes in addition to their school day, which took place before school.
I doubt it was mentioned on their transcript although it could be mentioned as an EC</p>
<p>Nope, the Mormon church has its own extensive educational system that the high school seminary program and BYU are both a part of. There is no need for the public school district to inform BYU that the kids went to seminary. That can all be handled within the church system. Mormon high school kids all across the country, including here in California, commonly go to seminary outside of school and then later apply to BYU. I’m sure all those local school districts do not inform BYU whether or not they went to high school seminary.</p>
<p>My opinion is that if the school has a policy that permits kids to be let out of one period to participate in outside activities, say civic youth orchestra, serve on the city government youth commission, elite youth soccer league, taking Hebrew lessons at the local synagogue, internships, etc., there is no reason why religious instructions should be specifically excluded, provided that public funds, buildings, and other resources are not being used.</p>
<p>I was informed by the moderators that this is not a forum for debate so I won’t be debating the issue even though I find it fascinating and worthy of further discussion. </p>
<p>It does not matter really what the specific issue is when it comes to class rank. The system can be gamed many times, and in a competitive school, there are some real sharks out there gaming it. When I lived in Pennsylvania, there was a fairly upscale school district where getting and keeping that #1 by choosing the optimom number of AP classes, the number of classes, all were down to a science by some families. That is what comes of ranking, I guess. </p>
<p>Most schools I know will let a kid out of class for a number of reasons. My oldest son could not get the foreign language he had started and taken for 2 years when we moved out of state to another school. So he took the class independently to fulfill the 3 year language requirement, but he did not get a grade for course, and he was exempt from taking that third year of language at his school. Unfair? Yeah, sort of. For anyone lousy at languages, that grade exemption could have helped. No big deal that he did this since he was no where near validictorian and the school did not rank. But you can see how this sort of thing can cause a headache. I have known kids who only take a half day of courses to enroll in some special program. A lot easier to get that 4.0+ if you are taking fewer courses. Really, if you studied how the gpa and val and sal are picked, you can probably come up with all sorts of idiosyncracies. Either you learn the system and work to become val by maximizing the gpa , petition for flagrently unfair practices (usually implemented AFTER your student is out) or just put up with it, understanding that you are not scrapping for gpa points but for the best program for the student.</p>