<p>My D’s HS does not recalculate GPA etc… before graduation or senior awards (ie so they really could have senior awards at the end of junior year) and I was wondering if other HS’s do the same. When my husband and I were in HS seniors had their ranking recalculated prior to graduation for honors etc…and this was prior to major use of computers etc…that make this an easy process now days. At D’s school graduation honors are meaningless…a few years ago a friend of hers didn’t even graduate with honors, but was called a week after graduation to be told that he qualified for some additional scholarships and was now an honor graduate since he moved up approx. 20 spaces in rank senior year. Don’t most schools consider senior year grades for awards/honors? Seems to me like D’s school has an alternative motive in this(ie: D/S of some administrator would have fallen in ranking if reranked so they don’t do it). Does this seem odd to others too?</p>
<p>Our high school calculates GPA at the end of the third marking period (out of four) for val, sal, academic honors, etc. The final report card shows the final recalculated rank and GPA based on fourth marking period and finals. I think this is a fair and valid way to do it.</p>
<p>Our school uses first semester senior year grades for determining val, sal, etc. By doing this they can get all the photos and information in the yearbook.</p>
<p>That makes alot of sense. I thought they would at least use first semester grades and recalculate based on those at a minimum. All the kids know their final grades before graduation, so it should be easy to include all of senior year, but they just use 9th-11th grade…seems odd to me to call it “senior” awards and not include senior grades(not even 1st semester). They do a lot of things for the top 10 students at the end of senior year, but at least 3 of those aren’t even in the top 10 after first semester…not to mention the students that are now top 10, but don’t get any special recognition. Of course this is the same school that announced all of the NM commended students and never announced the NM Finalists.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure ours calculates after the first quarter grades and never again. (Minor grumblings from the class’s #3 parent.) I tend to agree with her, major incentive to slack off senior year. However I suspect that if they recalculated the standings would be very similar to what they were then.</p>
<p>At our school the gpa is recalculated at the end of final exams second semester, which are going on right now. The seniors are out of school for one week before graduation, during which the final rankings are done. They recalculate the rankings after each nine weeks senior year, so by now they know who the top 10 or so are going into the finals. Usually, there are about 5 who are tied for first place and they are all told to prepare a speech during their off week, and about 2 days before the ceremony the top 2 are told who they are, the speeches are finalized with the administration, and off they go.</p>
<p>Last year our neighbors son was one of the top 5. He got his only “B” in hs the last report card and dropped enuf to be neither val nor sal. That sort of thing happens each year. Ties after the gpa are broken with test scores.</p>
<p>Our high school just graduates everybody and that’s that. No honors, no valedictorian or any of that stuff. (It’s Jesuit. They’re like that. Crazy guys. 
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<p>At my kids’ school, I think valedictorian is determined based on third quarter grades (but there hasn’t been a close call in the years we’ve been there, so it wouldn’t matter). Other honors based specifically on class rank are given out based on year-end grades – they have about a week to do the calculations. There are a ton of prizes, honors, etc., but most of those are faculty-determined and don’t require precision as to final grades.</p>
<p>Ours is same as #6. There are a few days between last final and graduation, and every last grade goes into it. The high school only reports unweighted GPA’s, except they have a weighting system for graduation, and after the first half of the year (we are on semester blocks), the top ten know where they stand, and the top two find out a few days before graduation.</p>
<p>Our HS uses all senior year grades, including finals, to determine the valedictory group (all kids with 3.9 and higher). This was quite a disaster last year, when for some bizarre scheduling mishap, finals were scheduled AFTER graduation. Seniors had to take finals before the rest of the school, and I think the valedictory group was determined the day before graduation, with teachers figuring out grades at the last minute.</p>
<p>The only reason the school calculates the valedictorian is to see who gets the full scholarship to the state university. That, I believe, is calculated after first semester senior year.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to her ED college, and slacked off. She never cared about making the valedictory group, and now doesn’t have to worry about it because she’s not making it. (She didn’t slack off too much – just enough A-'s instead of As to lower her GPA.)</p>
<p>And you know what- these kids will go off to college and no one will care. They will discover a lot of smarter kids will have had lesser grades, will have no clue about the big deal over a valedictory group (never heard of such until just now)… Son the sophomore derided “slackers”, son the senior… BTW, our school district always has seniors taking finals early so the officials know who’s graduating before the 4 dates they hold ceremonies, and gpa honor recognition is based on data as of the preceding semester. All the awards and newspaper publication/ graduation program info is determined before the final semester ends- no last minute scrambling. In a few short months it will be ancient history, the kids will all have gone their separate ways with their chosen futures before them. Please do not waste time obsessing over should haves, and instead enjoy the last of the high school experiences your child will ever have. You can’t change things, just sigh over the inequities and be glad you’re done with that phase.</p>
<p>D’s high school recognizes all who have over a 4.43 (or some such number!) as valedictorian IF they don’t have any B’s. They double-check with the teachers around the end of April to be sure candidates are still achieving a A in all current classes. While I don’t agree with the process of selecting vals, at least they do make sure grades are being maintained throughout the senioritis season. I just wish they would look at drops … if they are going to exclude students who have a high enough gpa even with a B or two, then they need to exclude students who dropped a class just to maintain all A’s. Some kids have aren’t honored even though they stuck out the rough class while others who dropped that rough class ARE honored. Of course, in the scheme of things, the title is pretty much just that … a title used at graduation … no connection to anything in life … so it really is a non-issue!</p>