Souhegan Finds Replacement for Decile System

Souhegan High School will now have an in-depth school profile, including a graph of senior's GPA, for institutions looking to assess prospective college students.

The profile includes information on curriculum, advanced placement courses, test scores, GPA and now a bar graph of the grading system of the high school.

This updated profile comes as a replacement for the decile system of student ranking that was removed by Community Council in May. Souhegan’s ranking system was previously reliant on GPA in 10 deciles, or groups of 10 percent. The first decile would be the top 10 percent of the grade, the second decile 20 percent, etc.

That decision on a proposal from students Alexander Kempf, Bobby Graham, Scott Doyle and Jacob Rettig.

The Souhegan School Board discussed the new profile at their meeting on Thursday and supported the decision to remove the decile system.

Director of Guidance Karen Chininis said she had done additional research in response to concerns that the removal of the decile system would hurt student’s chances of getting accepted for colleges and scholarships.

Chininis said the guidance department surveyed 93 colleges and universities and asked them questions ranging from the criteria for scholarships and the importance of ranking.

She found that removing the decile system from Souhegan did not have a significant impact on a students ability to get scholarships or enter prestigious schools.

Some parents are still concerned about the removal of the decile system because they believe it takes away recognition from top-level students and hurts their chances getting scholarships.

Maria Heaney said that she believes students from unranked schools will have less of a chance at larger or even full-boat scholarships.

“We are putting our students on a disadvantage,” said Heany.

Heany and other parents present at this week’s meeting also took issue with the bar graph that was included in the profile, which displays the GPA for the senior class. They said that a more detailed graph would allow schools to better evaluate the merit of prospective students.

Scott Gowell presented a solution that seemed to please both parents and school administration. He suggested that the school profile include a statement that if a college needed an in-depth look at ranking, they can contact the school.

Chininis reminded those in attendance that the guidance department has always provided institutions with the information they request.

“Our counselors are committed to providing information to colleges when they inquire about our students, that will always be our practice,” she said.