Grading at Walls

Anonymous
I have a rising senior at Walls with all As- how unusual is this? I have no idea as they don’t know what her friend’s final grades are like…
Anonymous
Supposedly (from another thread) her transcript will note class rank (percent?) ….transcripts are created in February and August. Look under “documents” tab in aspen. Report back - I am curious! (I have a rising sophomore at walls with straight As - but have to wait for August transcript to see what that means in relation to the rest of the class).
Anonymous
Lots of kids at Walls have straight As. Not that that isn’t an accomplishment- but a large number of kids do.
Anonymous
So is everyone ranked 1 then?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:So is everyone ranked 1 then?


Yes
Anonymous
At J-R, they publish the % of students that graduate with 4.0 unweighted GPA (it's about 4% of students)--do they not do the same for Walls?

But, OP, rank will also depend on rigor. So it will depend on how many APs your student took and how many APs other other straight A students.

Several years ago (like, 10-15) Walls had a reputation for not having a lot of straight A students but my friends with kids at Walls says it's like everywhere else...lots of retakes and allowances for late work has made for a lot of straight A students.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So is everyone ranked 1 then?


Yes


No it depends on how many APs the kid takes. Kids with 5 APs will have a higher GPA. Unweighted? Then yes lots of kids would be ranked #1.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Supposedly (from another thread) her transcript will note class rank (percent?) ….transcripts are created in February and August. Look under “documents” tab in aspen. Report back - I am curious! (I have a rising sophomore at walls with straight As - but have to wait for August transcript to see what that means in relation to the rest of the class).


If that's the case, I can't find the rank on my rising senior's transcript. It does say my all-A's DC is on track for summa cum laude--however DCPS defines that.
Anonymous
It would be strange if JR posts rank on transcripts but SWW does not . . . . but i suppose DCPS could have done that for some reason . . . hopefully a JR parent will chime in and tell us exactly where on the JR transcript the ranking appears (and the language used)! With respect to "sumna cum laude" - I recall reading in the handbook that it is determined by GPA cut off; I can't recall the number maybe 3.5 or 3.7 and above . . . in either case I imagine half the class must graduate with this "honor"!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:It would be strange if JR posts rank on transcripts but SWW does not . . . . but i suppose DCPS could have done that for some reason . . . hopefully a JR parent will chime in and tell us exactly where on the JR transcript the ranking appears (and the language used)! With respect to "sumna cum laude" - I recall reading in the handbook that it is determined by GPA cut off; I can't recall the number maybe 3.5 or 3.7 and above . . . in either case I imagine half the class must graduate with this "honor"!


It is on page two…no language. A box marked class rank and then your kid’s rank and the total number of students in the class.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It would be strange if JR posts rank on transcripts but SWW does not . . . . but i suppose DCPS could have done that for some reason . . . hopefully a JR parent will chime in and tell us exactly where on the JR transcript the ranking appears (and the language used)! With respect to "sumna cum laude" - I recall reading in the handbook that it is determined by GPA cut off; I can't recall the number maybe 3.5 or 3.7 and above . . . in either case I imagine half the class must graduate with this "honor"!


It is on page two…no language. A box marked class rank and then your kid’s rank and the total number of students in the class.


Where on page 2? I am looking at Walls "spotlight" transcript from February (no August transcript yet for my rising 10th grader) and there is no box marked class rank . . . on the top right under school address there is a "cumulative GPA" box . . . ? So maybe Walls (unlike JR) does not have class rank on the transcript? Curious.
Anonymous
I was looking at last year’s August transcript.
Anonymous
So does Walls report the % or kids that are Summa cum Laude? How do colleges know if this is a real accomplishment or not? The ranking provides real context…
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:So does Walls report the % or kids that are Summa cum Laude? How do colleges know if this is a real accomplishment or not? The ranking provides real context…


It’s not very helpful context if everyone has an unweighted 4.0, which so far as I know may actually be the case at Walls.

Anyway, colleges now buy a product from the College Board called Landscape that shows where a student’s SAT and AP scores fall within the distribution from their high school and zip code. Also at this point most popular colleges have 10+ years of computerized data from kids who have applied from Walls to that college. These are both attempts to work around the Lake Wobegonification of grades and the end of ranking.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So does Walls report the % or kids that are Summa cum Laude? How do colleges know if this is a real accomplishment or not? The ranking provides real context…


It’s not very helpful context if everyone has an unweighted 4.0, which so far as I know may actually be the case at Walls.

Anyway, colleges now buy a product from the College Board called Landscape that shows where a student’s SAT and AP scores fall within the distribution from their high school and zip code. Also at this point most popular colleges have 10+ years of computerized data from kids who have applied from Walls to that college. These are both attempts to work around the Lake Wobegonification of grades and the end of ranking.


That's helpful information. I thought Landscape just showed things like the average income or % of free/reduced lunch at the school and in the zip code, not where the student's SAT/AP scores fall in relation to school/zip.
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