Leaders at the three high schools in the South Washington County School District have put the final touches on a previously-announced move to halt the reporting of class rankings of students.
Students now are to be recognized in a manner common to higher education, a district news release said.
Students with a grade-point average of 4.0 or higher will be recognized summa cum laude, those with a 3.667-3.999 GPA will be magna cum laude and those with a 3.5-3.666 GPA will be cum laude.
Earlier, school principals and counselors had considered using the terms "honors," "high honors" and "distinction." Those who graduated with distinction would be students with a GPA of 4.0 or higher.
South Washington County students are able to graduate above a traditional 4.0 GPA by taking Advanced Placement or other college-level courses.
School officials have worried that some gifted students are skipping classes they are passionate about because they don't come with a loftier GPA. The district wants students to focus on the classes they take, and not on how they compare to their peers. Students should compete against a standard rather than one another, the district said.
The move away from class rankings will take effect in 2013-14 and follows national trends. Other east metro high schools that have done away with class ranks include Stillwater, Hill-Murray and Mounds View.
Individual schools will decide how the changes affect commencement exercises, for example, whether the school will have a valedictorian or recognizes its top 10 students, the district said.
