How American schools rank students

For high school students in the US, high school results are extremely important because high scores and rankings will give them an advantage in university admission.

The proposal to abolish the ranking of students by score was made at a conference on happy schools in Hanoi on the morning of October 20, receiving the support of many people. According to some education managers, this helps reduce score pressure in schools. However, in many countries, such as the US, ranking by scores is still popular and important in the high school system.

Mr. Tran Dac Minh Trung, master of Education at Harvard University, said about 50% of American schools have student rankings, most commonly in public schools.

"Public schools will have two rankings: school and state. For example, a student ranked 17th at the school corresponds to the top % of the state," Mr. Trung said.

The purpose of ranking is to ensure the rights of students, according to Mr. Trung. The better student will be able to attend a good school or receive financial assistance from the government. Some public universities in Texas and California have a policy of automatically admitting students in the top 10% of their high school, meaning those who rank in the top 40 of their grade will almost certainly be admitted directly to the school.

For American students, four-year high school scores are very important in college admission. Illustrative photo: American Scholar Group

According to Mr. Van Tan Hoang Vy, Principal of Van Houston Academy, in Houston, Texas, student rankings in the US are highly competitive. For example, grade 12 has 700 students, the school will rank them from 1 to 700 and clearly state them on the transcript. The transcript at the end of the 11th grade records 125/700, meaning the student ranked 125 out of 700, will be used to apply to university at the beginning of the 12th grade.

Unlike Vietnam, which ranks students by grade, schools in the US evaluate them by grade, based on grade point average (GPA). For example, grade 12 has 400 students, the student with the highest score will be considered valedictorian (valedictorian) at graduation, and the second highest scorer will be salutorian (salutatorian). Student scores are notified via email and are guaranteed to be confidential.

Private schools in the US also have the right to rank students, but do not pursue this method but have their own policies due to uneven student quality. Normally, private schools evaluate by GPA. For example, Math has regular classes and advanced classes (AP classes). An A grade for an advanced class is calculated as 5.0, while a regular class is 4.0.

"Students who choose AP classes and get an A will be ranked higher. Students who choose a regular class, even if they get 100 points, are still ranked lower than students in the advanced class," Mr. Vy explained. Therefore, many parents see their children get all A's but are ranked low, because they all chose regular classes.

For students with the best academic results in the school, Mr. Vy often adds confirmation to the transcript to make it easier for students when applying to university.

Universities will rely on data to know whether the student comes from a public or private school. For public school students, they look at rankings, while private schools will look more closely at average scores, scores for each subject, difficulty of each subject (regular class vs. AP class), essays or extracurricular activities. .

"In the US there is no common exam for university admission, schools only base it on scores from four years of high school. Therefore, the high school process is extremely important," Mr. Vy said.

Education experts admit that rankings put pressure on students to study a lot to keep high scores and always try to achieve a GPA of 3.0 or higher, but that is the way to get into prestigious universities.

However, this is also unfair in that the university only looks at the numbers and does not care about the quality of the candidate's high school. Having experience guiding students in preparing college applications, Mr. Vy found that students who ranked first and second in village schools had a high probability of getting into Ivy League schools. While many students achieved SAT 1580/1600, they went to a school with many good students so their rankings were not high, reducing their advantage.

However, rankings are only necessary for high school students. For lower levels, scores or rankings only let parents know what their child's abilities are, according to Mr. Vy.

Master of Education Dinh Thu Hong, an elementary school teacher in the Gwinnett school district, Georgia, added that the transcripts of lower levels are only valuable if the student wants to enter a specialized school, a selective class or a famous private school in the country. city.

Ms. Hong said there must be scores to evaluate students. Every level of education has final scores and schools are still graded and evaluated based on scores. At the elementary level, each semester has 2 quarters, each quarter must have at least 9-10 points in two main subjects, Math, Literature, and 6-8 points in secondary subjects such as Science, Sociology...

At Ms. Hong's school, at the end of the year there will be a summary of student rankings and awards of certificates of merit. Normally there will be certificates of merit such as AB Honor roll, A Honor roll and Principal Award.

In particular, A Honor roll is for excellent students, meaning the final score of all subjects must be A (90-100). On average, a class has 6-8 students. AB Honor roll is similar to that of good students, the final score for each subject is A (90-100) and B (80-90). Each class has 8-10 students passing, out of a total of 20-26 students. Principal Award is given to the best students in each grade, in each subject or all subjects combined, for only one student.

At the same time, teachers were also asked to come up with prizes for all the remaining students. For example, for students who talk a lot, Ms. Hong gives a certificate of merit for "Good communicator", or for students who are hyperactive and mischievous, they will receive the title "Most active in the class".

"Allowing everyone to stand up to receive a certificate of merit on the closing day is not an achievement disease, it has a much more important meaning: so that everyone has a feeling of success and feels special and cared for." , Ms. Hong, a 3rd grade teacher, shared.