Everybody’s Special

In 2021 there were 24 valedictorians, in 2022 there were 26, in 2023 there were 35, and in 2024 there were 36. The trend suggests that the number of valedictorians will rise again this year. For reference, consider that in 2010 there were only 2.

According to Hawai’i State Department of Education guidelines, to become valedictorian in a Hawaii DOE school students are required to have a 4.0 or above GPA and earn one of the three Honor Recognition Certificates.

The fastest road to a 4.0 and above is AP, or Advanced Placement courses or college-level classes that add an extra point to your GPA regardless of how you actually perform on the AP exam. Yet, this system creates an inconsistency–while APs are supposedly designed to offer challenging, college-level courses, grades are often equal to completion.

In 2024, in all but one subject, Lahainaluna students, on average, failed their AP exam, which means they earned a score of 2 or less. 33.9% or 56 out of 165 AP test takers passed with a score of 3 or better and, of the number who passed, only 18.78 percent of that 165 did so with scores of 4 or better.

As Keyla Jimenez recently reported, school-wide test scores are not much better.

Recent data compiled in the DOE’s Strive HI report suggests that in the 2023-2024 school year only 28 percent of students demonstrated proficiency in language arts assessments, followed by 17percent in science and 5percent in mathematics. These scores, like AP scores, are evaluated independently by people outside of Lahainaluna.

While we lack data on classroom grades for AP students grades across campus, these numbers suggest that there may be a gap between students' academic performance in regular courses and their ability to succeed in more rigorous settings like AP.

“...something's wrong, right?”

Principal Richard Carosso offered insight into the data, wondering “If you have 30 kids in your AP class, and you've given 25 A's, but your average score is a 1.7 on the AP exam, something's wrong, right?”

The problem would simply be grade inflation or a course grade that does not match mastery of that subject. The possibility, Carosso commented, is  “not correlating for what I think the rigor of an AP course should be."

Students may be taking more AP classes to pump up their grades, but the level of rigor they are encountering may not match the expectations set by the College Board (the organization that develops the AP content and evaluates AP tests).

Students may feel they are being challenged, but in reality, they may not be developing the deep understanding needed to succeed on the AP exam.

Principal Carosso thinks that it is important to distinguish between learning and doing, because that's the difference between a high AP exam score and just a good classroom grade.

“If you're giving all these great points and grades for doing everything, " said Carosso, “you kind of have to switch the mindset of, it's not just about doing. It's about learning.”

If the focus is on completion rather than understanding, he suggests, AP grades may be rewarding students for completing assignments or fulfilling requirements, rather than demonstrating mastery in the skill itself.

Our AP scores also point to another issue. Students at LHS may have come to expect higher grades for less effort, especially with the trend of grade inflation and the focus on completing tasks rather than demonstrating mastery. Students may feel entitled to grades simply because they showed up or finished an assignment.

“I could have been prepared much better.”

Transitions teacher Marc Watasaki thinks that AP classes should be open to anyone willing to try. “I think just being a high school student means you are AP ready,” he insisted. “I think everyone should get the opportunity to take those classes. But I don’t think everyone should expect to do well in there.”

While AP classes are in fact open to any student, grade inflation may work against students looking to take on bigger challenges. “Students receiving higher grades than their actual mastery in the material might create a false sense of preparedness,” says AP Biology teacher Arica Lynn.

Lynn thinks that some students may have come to expect high grades without putting in the necessary effort. They may not have prepared then for the level of work and understanding required in AP courses  “when they enter the more rigorous environment of an AP course and eventually face the standardized AP exam.”

Junior Juliet Ronen is currently taking AP World History. Reflecting on whether her earlier classes prepared her, she said “some did but some didn’t, I feel like I could have been prepared much better.”

“When I went into AP Seminar I was so lost and unprepared,” said sophomore Jersea Borneman. “It was completely different than my previous classes.”

Sophomore Brianne Lagazo is in the same class but thinks preparation has little to do with the subject itself. “My biggest problem when doing AP was managing my time correctly,” she said. “Freshman year’s light workload didn’t teach me proper time management, so when sophomore year’s pressure hit, it became overwhelming.”

Lynn agrees. While some students have the ability, the “students who are successful are usually organized, plan ahead, and dedicate consistent time.”

Sophomore Mina Nagasako adds "I can guarantee that there's many students who want good scores but few who strive to take the action to study and fully apply themselves."

“I believe that students are ready and can do the work given,” said Joseph Balinbin. “I think the larger problem is getting them to show effort. Teenagers have lives outside of school and it’s gonna be a challenge to pick 2000 word essays over going to the beach with your friends.”

“There's other things in life important as well than just schoolwork,” said Watasaki.

“They're really interested in it."

Despite the gap between grades and AP scores for most AP classes, AP Art taught by Mr. Schultz is different. AP art students scored an average of 3.71, almost two points higher than every other AP class on campus.

While this may suggest that Schultz’ students were simply better prepared, he offers a different perspective on last year’s scores.

“I feel like sometimes they were putting students in my class that just needed a credit for art, and they didn't have any of the background for AP,” said Schultz. “That was pretty bad for trying to build up those, the foundation and the fundamentals.”

Yet, in 2024, things changed. “There weren't any of those kinds of students, so they were a little bit more prepared when they were going into it.”

As a result, most of his students in 2024, he claimed, wanted to be there. "Art is an elective,” he said. ”The people that decide to take art have chosen it, and they're passionate about it, and they're really interested in it."

Unlike core subjects where students might feel compelled to take AP classes for GPA purposes or college applications, art students, at least those who have chosen to be art students, are self-motivated. They enter the class with a clear interest and a strong desire to learn, which Schultz believes, makes all the difference.

“I just have to be able to regulate my time”

Students planning to take AP courses next year already have mixed feelings. Many have heard rumors and warnings about the workload and what to expect. some have taken those rumors and warnings to heart.

"I talked to a lot of students, and they all say it's like, really hard and impossible” says one anonymous student. Freshman Murphy Crossman-McGibbons agrees, saying "I've just heard them, like, just complain about the workload a lot. It's like, a lot of reading."

One anonymous student has taken these warnings seriously. Describing the challenge of finding balance early on, “I just have to be able to regulate my time with other things and also be willing to make sacrifices for my outside life,” they said.

After his experience in AP this year, students like sophomore Harlan Owen are looking at the situation realistically.  Next year, he said, “I’m not doing AP classes because I procrastinate too much and I don’t have enough time.”

Crossman-McGibbions hopes that his current Honors English class will help him on the AP track as he thinks “the whole class is designed around” preparing him to enter AP Seminar next year.

“If everybody’s special, no one’s special”

The title of valedictorian has been reserved for those who stand out academically, traditionally with the highest academic achievements in a graduating class, often determined by GPA.

But the path to a 4.0 has become increasingly more accessible, and some argue that the system of awarding the title of valedictorian to so many may unintentionally dilute the accomplishment.

The growing number of valedictorians combined with our dropping math and english scores also raises important questions about the value of the title. “When we have 30 kids at 4.0 it seems that it lessens the accomplishment,” says Carosso. “If everybody’s special, no one’s special.”

Watasaki agrees that “the meaning of valedictorian means less with more and more people achieving that status.”

What does this mean for the future of academic recognition? Will the title of valedictorian return to its once prestigious status, or will it continue to be just another box to check off.

Carosso emphasized, “we just all have to teach the best we can. Raise our expectations of our kids, raise our standards, you know, for all our kids.”