For Working with Grade Point Average and Rank-in-Class

Abstract

Ten years ago, NASSP's School-College Relations Committee, working with the comparable committee of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), drafted a series of guidelines to help secondary schools cope with the issues generated by the widespread use of rank-in-class and grade point average by colleges and universities in evaluating applications for admission. Those guidelines were based on information about their policies and practices provided by samples of both public and nonpublic high schools and col leges, illuminated by the professional insights and experience of men and women responsible for the project. It is evident that during the decade since the 15 recom mendations in the series were formulated they have influenced rank-in-class policies and practices in a great many secondary schools. This is not to say that every one of those many schools adopted every one of the recommendations, but the' "fit" in the case of most of the 15 guidelines has been very close. Since the guidelines were proposed only as recommended practice, schools that have found one or more of them inappropriate to their conditions have, of course, been free to select alternative practices they judge more suitable for their students.