Parents and/or Guardians,

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, the student leadership of Penn High School, Kingsmen Court, approached the PHS administration with concerns about our current academic ranking system and how students are recognized at commencement.  Members of the Kingsmen Court expressed concerns with the social and emotional wellness of our students who are directly impacted by the undue pressure of the current ranking system.   In my first year as the Principal of Penn High School, I felt it was important to investigate these student concerns more throughout the year, especially since the social and emotional wellness of our students is a top Penn initiative.  This collaborative conversation started a journey of inquiry into what other schools are doing across the state, including research on the opinions of several state and national universities and how they view student achievement and recognition.

In recent years, we found that many schools throughout the state of Indiana and our country have reinvented how students are recognized for their academic achievements in high school.  The recurring theme we discovered was that most schools are moving towards alternative methods for recognizing top students at commencement and are not identifying Valedictorians and Salutatorians any longer.  We also found that the majority of colleges don’t use class rank as a determining factor for admittance and all colleges and universities agreed that the Valedictorian and Salutatorian distinction does not significantly separate candidates from one another during the admission process.  Colleges indicated individual student essays and writing ability as the determining factor in the application review process.  

Penn High School currently recognizes Valedictorians and Salutatorians on a yearly basis representing approximately the top 2% of the senior class.  Penn High School also includes the class rank of each individual student on report cards and student transcripts.  

Penn High School is considering discontinuing these practices beginning with the class of 2023 and celebrating student academic success by incorporating a Latin honors designation of Summa Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude and Cum Laude.  This distinction is based on a student's grade point average at the end of their 7th semester.  This system will allow for more students to be recognized with honors at commencement.  The class of 2023 is also the first class that will be under the new Graduations Pathways requirements.  

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