A committee of Eanes school district staff members, students and parents made a recommendation to school board members attending a study session Monday that, beginning with the 2011 senior graduating class, the district rank only those graduates who place in the top 10 percent of the class according to grade point average.

“Because Westlake is such a high-performing school with a group of highly-motivated and talented students, it is not unusual for students in the third quarter of their class to have an “A” overall average,” said Linda Rawlings, Westlake High School principal. “If a school reports a student’s rank, the college or university will often use this information to sort the students as a basis for admission or denial to the school. We feel that, by eliminating rank for 90 percent of our students, those students will have a better chance of being accepted at schools they want to attend.”

Local high school students with GPAs that are ranked in the lower half of their graduating class can operate at a disadvantage when applying to colleges and competing for classroom seats against students from other school districts with lower GPAs who are ranked in the top half of their class, committee members said.

“The recommendations were studied and discussed in detail by the committee,” said board vice president Paul Stone, who ran the Monday study session. “It was clear that the committee had performed an extensive amount of research and homework in preparation for the meeting. There seems to be widespread support for revising the existing policy among the staff and community.”

The proposal to change class rank procedures at Westlake High School is expected as an action item on the Feb. 24 board meeting agenda.