Starting with the class of 2002, Ames High School will no longer assign individual class rankings.

The Ames High School Academic Review Committee said this decision was made because the class ranks of many students with high GPAs are often misleading due to the competitive academic environment at Ames High.

This change has some parents and students wondering how the new policy will affect them.

Ellen Arkovich, mother of an Ames High senior, said she spoke with Principal Michael McGrory and Associate Principal Michael Avise about her concerns.

She said McGrory and Avise informed her that class rank will not show up on high school transcripts, but if class rank is required for a scholarship or college application, the information will be made available by the school.

“I don’t think it’s going to make that much of a difference,” Arkovich said. “I was concerned at first because all of my daughter’s scholarship and college applications ask for class rank. Now that I know the information can still be attained, it looks like all this can do is help the kids and not hurt them.”

Ames High junior Chelsey Schmidt has taken a positive standpoint on the new policy.

“I think it’s a good thing because the GPA average in my school is very high, and it often makes it hard even for kids with a good GPA to rank in the top half of my class,” Schmidt said. “It seems this way everyone will get credit for the time and effort they put into their work.”

Students needed a 3.298 GPA to be in the top half of the Class of 1999, according to an academic review committee document. Forty-seven seniors in this class had a GPA between 3.0 and 3.290.

When students’ transcripts are sent to colleges and universities, a letter from Ames High will accompany them explaining the class rank policy.

According to this letter, the review committee states that its decision will encourage institutions to examine other aspects of a student’s performance, such as courses taken, individual GPA, scores on standardized tests and extracurricular activities.

About 40 percent of Ames High students score in the top 5 percent in the nation on standardized exams, according to the letter.

In the class of 2001, 40 of 389 were named national merit finalists, semifinalists or commended scholars.

Iowa State was involved in discussions with the school concerning this decision, said Phil Caffrey, associate director of admissions.

“Class rank is the primary criteria for considering students for admission to the university,” Caffrey said. “We do consider other things such as courses taken and ACT and SAT scores, but class rank is the most important.”

Automatic acceptance at Iowa State is given to Iowa students in the top half of their class, he said.

“In general, Iowa State supports high schools providing class rank information because we are obligated by the Iowa Code to offer admission to Iowa residents who rank in the upper half of their class,” he said.

Because of the review committee’s decision, Iowa State must now figure out how to rank the students of Ames High for admission.

“We explained to Ames High that if they chose to discontinue providing class rank then we would be forced to estimate a class rank for their students who apply to Iowa State,” Caffrey said. “We would base that estimate primarily upon a student’s GPA but would also take into consideration the courses the student has completed and their ACT and SAT scores.”