SENIOR CLASSIFICATION

Students will be classified as seniors who, at the beginning of the school year, have completed six (6) terms. Those not meeting graduation requirements will be retained at the end of the 8th term.

The Valedictorian and Salutatorian at each high school shall have earned the highest and next highest grade-point averages using Knox County's equalization formula. This formula prevents any student from either gaining an advantage or being penalized for the number of high school courses completed. This formula prorates the regular courses in such a way that the number of credits completed is equivalent for all students competing for the Valedictorian and Salutatorian positions. This formula considers all course weighting and bonus points for Advanced Placement (AP), Cambridge International, International Baccalaureate (IB), Dual Enrollment, Statewide Dual Credit, National Industry Certification and Honors
courses in its calculation. All grades included on the high school transcript shall be used in this calculation.¹

To become Valedictorian or Salutatorian, a student must be enrolled in a Knox County school at the beginning of the tenth (10th) grade year and attend through the twelfth (12th) grade.

If there is a tie through the hundredth (100th) of a point for a valedictorian, all students qualifying should be named. Senior classification beyond the positions of Valedictorian and Salutatorian will be reported in deciles, such as “upper 10%.”

Identification of the Valedictorian, Salutatorian and the top 10% for each class, shall be calculated using the grades from the seventh semester (fall semester of a student’s senior year).

The Director of Schools shall create an administrative procedure to determine senior classification using the equalization formula which will include the Dual Enrollment, Statewide Dual Credit, AP, industry certifications and IB course evaluations.

Beginning with the graduating class of 2030, KCS will no longer identify valedictorians or salutatorians. Instead, KCS will recognize the achievement of graduating seniors at each Knox County high school who have excelled academically using a Latin Honors System. Graduating seniors may earn one of two honors based upon their GPAs using the following classifications:

Cross Reference:

1. Knox County Board of Education Policy I-341 Uniform Grading Policy.