Class rank is back in Anne Arundel County high schools after 7 years

The Anne Arundel County school board on Wednesday night voted 7-1 to bring back class rank for high schoolers, despite a warning that students’ mental health may suffer.

Class rank is an old-school way to compare students’ academic achievement using their weighted grade-point averages. Teens angling to boost their class rank are known to take as many honors and Advanced Placement courses as possible, putting them at risk for burnout.

Board members who support the metric’s revival say the district has a responsibility to provide students with their rankings because the information might give them an edge when they apply to college or seek a scholarship.

“This is a huge win for students, parents and parental rights,” said board member Dawn Pulliam, who represents the Southern and South River high clusters and led the push to bring class rank back. Pulliam is the board’s vice president. She is also running for a seat on the County Council. “Students will be ranked in everything they do for their entire lives. I think competition is good.”

More than half of high schools nationally don’t calculate class rank, according to a National Association for College Admission Counseling report. Across the region, Baltimore and Harford counties and Baltimore City rank students, whereas Montgomery and Howard counties do not.

Many colleges no longer require applicants to disclose rankings.

Dana Schallheim is the only current board member who was serving in 2019 when the school system got rid of class rank. She said she can’t believe her colleagues are reviving a contentious debate she thought was settled.

“I think it’s dreadful to add this to a student’s plate,” said Schallheim, who represents the Broadneck and Severna Park high school attendance clusters. “I have no problem being the lone dissenting voice, and I will be.”

Under the policy approved by the board, schools will share class rank by request only. Students can request their rank as early as 10^th grade. The district will also ask families who want to know a student’s rank to report a reason for the request.

Before board member Joanna Bache Tobin cast her vote in favor of reviving class rank, she acknowledged that plenty of research shows “this is really not a good practice.” One study found students with lower class rank were more likely to experience symptoms of depression.

“Class rank should never be shorthand for how a student is doing,” said Tobin, who represents Annapolis.

She said the board’s decision is being driven not by science but by feedback from families who say students who don’t know their class rank can’t be as competitive as college applicants who do. Student board member Brayden Morgan said his vote to restore class rank was informed by feedback from hundreds of fellow students.

“I am a first-gen student going to not a very cheap school, so I understand the importance of merit scholarships,” said Morgan, who suggested that class rank will make it easier for some students applying to college to secure merit-based financial aid. Morgan, a senior at Glen Burnie High School, is the one who proposed that a student’s rank only be shared upon request.

Near the end of Wednesday night’s meeting, Superintendent Mark Bedell recommended that the board bring class rank back, in order to restore families’ access to information he said they deserve. Bedell said school leaders should also be clear-eyed about possible unintended consequences.

“We don’t want to create a situation where all of a sudden, now people are going and taking crazy courses because now I need to be ranked No. 1,” Bedell said. “Ultimately, it’s the right thing to do.”

Before the board eliminated class rank in 2019, it was used to identify Anne Arundel County high schools’ valedictorians and salutatorians. That year’s Severna Park High valedictorian reportedly stated at the time that she did not take classes that interested her, like robotics, piano and creative writing, because the advanced coursework she took counted more toward her GPA and class rank.

Today, those honors are bestowed by administrators based on a review of students’ grades, leadership and public service. That process will continue under the new class rank policy.