…Clark University is out, Tufts is in. 
Yay, I’m glad to see some interest, finally.
Re: Vals and Sals
I honestly have no idea! Both kids will be playing at graduation and I am making S19 bring me a program (as I know S17 will forget). Back in my day, same district, didn’t weight or rank, we did not. Kids voted on who spoke at graduation (tried out etc). I and a gal who arguably would have been Val if we had that, spoke. In the decades between then and now the school did rank (but not weight) however now that they’ve stopped it I am not sure how they could do it. If they do, I suspect it will be like SD’s HS, where they had 10 or more Val’s and no Sal’s. So, it was all the 4.0 kids, regardless of rigor. The school grading scale was much like ours with +/- but no A+. I do not know if they used percentages. I assume so or there might be more than 10 at the 4.0 level so it may have been 10 at 100 (since 93 and up are all an A). Not sure.
@MotherOfDragons that’s a brutal schedule. Is that for fall semester? I’d be rethinking it as well.
@2muchquan that is good it gave her pause. I often wonder if they really grasp what that 40k difference over all 4 years means…even if you can do it, it is smart to question whether it really is worth it and full ride is a totally different animal. I expect us to have that first debate, the second one…not so much. LOL!
@greeny8 you may not know for month on final grades? That’s nuts!!! We finish next friday and report cards are in the mail on the Monday. 1st semester takes 2-3 weeks but the end of the year is BAM! Which means grades are changing online by the minute between now and then as the teachers scramble to get it all in.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek I feel your pain on the budget, I’ve been working to determine the value of transferable credits, what will transfer and count towards major, core, etc. Every little bit helps.
I’m not sure if or how many vals or sals we have. I know my DD doesn’t care about all that. She is in top 10% but has never aspired to take every single AP and be a Val/Sal. She focused on her strengths and interests (even taking a TA period so she could take part in Culture Keepers - an invitation only mediation program- instead of fitting in more academic classes) and thinks colleges can see through the kids taking classes just to inflate GPA (not saying all vals/sals do that) or taking ECs just to list them. She said you have to ‘apply’ to make a speech at grad so maybe they don’t have vals/sals? So I guess I won’t know if or how many until next June!
There is a school district in central Ohio which had 222 valedictorians last year. The district has 3 high schools. One had 96, another 82 and the other 44. 20% of the combined classes. Anyone over a 4.1 GPA. Seems meaningless to me. Not sure what the results were this year.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/03/best-of-class-in-dublin-222-grads-tie.html
Our school ranks but does not announce val/sal. They announce the top 10 kids in the class (and each of the other classes) but no rank order. They sit in the front row on the stage along with the NMF kids and some other kids to fill the front row (not sure how they are picked though 2 of the other kids in the front row give the graduation speeches – just have to try out for it – not sure it its teachers or students who vote based on drafts of speeches). Worked well for my son to be in the front row because his grandparents do not see very well anymore.
There is an academic senior awards night a week or so before graduation. There are two awards that appear to go to the first and second ranked kid in the class respectively (at least that is how it has worked the past couple of years). Many people in the class know the rankings (they compare GPAs and then that gets spread around to those who care). Transcripts given out during senior year (including those sent to colleges during application process) include specific ranking (at least for the top 10 kids).
D17 says there was an awards ceremony last month where they gave an award to the top 1% of students in the senior class and there were about 20 kids.
We don’t have ranking and I think D told me that it is the best essay that get to be spoken at the graduation. If I ask her where her position is, she would say she doesn’t know ;).
No raking or Val/Sal at S’s school. The graduating class is small and the ceremony partly done by the kids (like a short slide show of each kid w/pictures from little to big). Usually 3 or 4 kids give short speeches. They volunteer to do it. D15 gave one. S will likely not volunteer. It is not his thing.
I think S’s list is done and there are 6 or 7 schools on it. I have to remind him to update Naviance tonight.
@MotherOfDragons our reward ceremony honors student who have won county above sports, acedemic events/competitions and high scores for Latin tests, SAT & ACT perfect scores, etc
D just informed me that she has identified her CA topic :)>-
We have Vals but not Sals. They have to have a 4.0 uw (all A’s throughout HS) and at least 1 AP/IB course, this is to allow kids in all tracks - automotive, pro-start, etc. to have the opportunity to make it. About 10 kids will make it. Some of the kids who will make it my kid’s class were caught in cheating scandals, so many students will not be happy for them.
We also have two rankings - weighted and unweighted. Both are printed on grade reports. My kid is much higher up on weighted list.
Speaking of grade reports and transcripts, are these transmitted to colleges through the CA or does the high school have to send them separately?
**Val&Sal/b Our school has 1 of each, top 2 GPA based on weighted scale out of 100. My D was Sal of her middle school, but though high in top 10% of her HS class (probably top 5% of class of 160), will likely not be in the running for anything in HS. She’s definitely taken a “most rigorous” path by our school’s standards, but as her GC (who is delightfully candid) put it “some of the parents know the weighting to the Nth degree” and have been basically plotting their kids’ schedule since 9th grade to maximize the scheme.
Math tracking Although I imagine it’d be difficult for a kid who didn’t take Algebra 1 in 8th grade (it’s offered as the advanced math option at our area middle schools) to catch up to those who did, it’s not ruled out by any kind of formal tracking. Around here, there is no honors level math until one decides to take AP Calc AB or AP Stats - our school is too small/not specialized enough to offer Calc BC (they’d have a class of 3-5 kids, lol). Though I think some things are changing in the sequence for Common Core alignment (for however long that lasts!) for future kids. I’ll have to worry about that for 6th grade D…
New SAT
One of D’s schools, Gonzaga, has posted that they will be using the CB concordance when evaluating new SAT scores for the class of ‘17. As fall approaches, I’m going to re-check each of her schools’ websites to see what they say about new SAT. Using the concordance, D’s math goes down 30 points and reading goes up 20. Writing is low, but I’m hoping schools won’t pay much attention to concordance-based writing (they should be checking the new essay section instead, right?) She took June SAT with writing, so we’ll see what happens next month.
Vals 'n Sals
D’s school doesn’t rank, so I assume that means no val or sal. I have no idea about senior honors thingies or who gives speeches. At D11’s (non-ranking non-traditional) school, students signed up to be part of graduation and had to get staff approval. D danced at graduation. The local newspaper article about their graduation started with a description of her dance – I’m betting the reporter was well and tired of student graduation speeches and glad to see something different!
Ok, I really like the bold type. Can’t find the instruction, and when I first saw it, my eyes glazed over. Can someone explain for this idiot how, again…Sorry, and if i don’t deserve a tutorial again, I understand
[ b ] text [/ b ] w/o spaces in the brackets
@BigPapiofthree There a good reference here: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/forum/misc.php?do=bbcode
Not all of the codes in work on CC, but many of them do. You can even make a RAINBOW
this text is bold
this text is italic
this text is underlined
whee!!!
@BigPapiofthree Try this link, much more detail on BB Code
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/forum/misc.php?do=bbcode
You can even change your font, in this case it’s courier.
(B)I Did IT. Thanks(B)
no I didn’t…I am glad I am not applying to school
{B}One More Time{B}
Did it work?