For the first time in decades, the top 10 students in Riverside Brookfield High School’s graduating class, ranked by grade point average, were not called to the stage and given medals.
That’s because in 2020, at the recommendation of Principal Hector Freytas, the school board voted 6 to 1 to eliminate class rank and switch to a Latin Honors system that is more commonly used at colleges and universities. School board member Laura Hruska cast the only vote against the change.
This year, those graduating summa cum laude, with GPAs of 4.0 and above; magna com laude, with GPAs of 3.5 to 3.99; and cum laude, with GPA’s of 3.0 to 3.49, were recognized by being asked to stand at their seats for a moment during the ceremony.
Summa cum laude graduates wore gold tassels, magna cum laude graduates wore silver tassels, and cum laude graduates wore bronze tassels.
Just more than 67 % of the Class of 2024 graduated with some kind of honors with 101 students graduating summa cum laude, 98 at magna cum laude and 73 with com laude.
“It’s a nice way to recognize more kids,” said Assistant Principal for curriculum and instruction Kylie Lindquist of the Latin Honors system.
Lindquist said that the high number of students graduating summa cum laude is a result of the system of weighted grades, in which grades in honors and Advanced Placement classes get a numerical boost.
“I think weighted grades obviously plays in as a factor,” Lindquist said. “I think one of things that it speaks to for sure is the open access we have to our AP program.”
Lindquist said that RB offered more than five sections of AP Statistics class.
“I think it speaks to the rigor of the programs that our kids elect to go into,” Lindquist said.
Lindquist said that the high number of students graduating with honors is also a result of the switch in education toward what is called mastery learning. In mastery learning, students are often permitted to retake tests and redo assignments until they demonstrate a mastery of the subject matter being taught.
“I think education in general now is trending towards students having opportunities to relearn, students having opportunities to demonstrate learning at different times,” Lindquist said. “We also are developing a culture of when students try something and they don’t get to the benchmark that they wanted to hit or the goal that they have set for themselves or that their teacher has set, that they can continue to try and build that mastery. So, I think you see across the board you see a lot less failures in education I think than you used to and I think you see a lot more students learning that you can try more than one time to reach success if you need to, and schools are o.k. with that now. That’s not seen as something negative.”
Eliminating class rank was also seen as a way to reduce stress for students who sometimes engaged in some gamesmanship to boost their grade point averages. In past years, being at the top on the class came down to how many AP and honors classes a student took because a number of students typically graduate from RB having never received a grade lower than an A.