Each semester, the California Scholarship Federation (CSF) invites students with qualifying GPAs to apply for status as CSF Scholars. Students who qualify for six semesters of their high school careers are honored with a yellow tassel on their caps come graduation.
To apply for the CSF program, qualifying students fill out their classes and grades from the previous semester on CSF applications. As the applications informs, the grades will be read by “CSF evaluators” and scored to determine later qualification.
But one fact is never made clear to the students who copy their report card down for evaluation: the “CSF evaluators” are two of their fellow classmates.
Each year, two freshmen are chosen to be the CSF evaluators of their class. A group of teachers in charge of coordinating CSF activities at Aragon discreetly asks two students they deem as responsible to fill the positions. The rest of the class is not informed of the teachers’ decision; indeed, many students who qualify for CSF go their entire time at Aragon not knowing that two of their fellow classmates have seen their high school grades.
This is a case of ill-arrangement without ill-intent. The teachers who choose the students don’t democratize the process because they want to ensure that the two students chosen are the most responsible in their grade. The two students chosen are simply doing a duty for their class and are hopefully discreet with the information they are given about their classmates.
But there are still a variety of areas in which the current system ought to be improved.
To begin with, it should be clearly advertised that CSF applications are evaluated by students. If potential CSF applicants are to release their grades, they have the right to know with whom the grades are shared. The identities of CSF evaluators must be available to students to allow potential applicants to make an informed decision on whether or not to share their grades.
Additionally, the CSF forms should clearly state that by submitting the application, a student is agreeing to let a fellow student see his or her grades. The application should also include the opportunity for students to indicate that they would prefer to have a teacher evaluate their application. It also may be wise for students to apply with their student ID numbers instead of their names. But as some students have unique class schedules, doing so would not be sufficient to maintain privacy.
It may seem odd that students have no input regarding who the evaluators for their class are; ideally, the process for selecting evaluators would be through a class vote. But as the teachers responsible for CSF have the obligation to ensure that all evaluators are sensible and mature, it is acceptable that the decision is made unilaterally.
But no matter how the students are picked, it is important that they are held to a standard of discretion and judiciousness. While the majority of current student evaluators are responsible and tactful, all evaluators ought to sign a contract that stipulates that they will never discuss, record, or otherwise share the grades of students they learn. Currently, the only system of rules that evaluators are held to is an unspoken honor system. But it would be wise for evaluators be held accountable to a written set of rules. For instance, it ought to be specifically requested that evaluators score the applications in private and secure environments; as of now, there are no rules to prevent an evaluator from scoring applications while at school, where the applications are privy to other students’ eyes.
In a perfect world, new CSF evaluators would be chosen at the beginning of each semester, or at least the beginning of each year. But as training evaluators is time consuming, the current system restricts the number of evaluators to two per class. But a solution still exists: evaluators could review applications of students who are not in their grade—for instance, senior evaluators could evaluate junior applications, and juniors could evaluate senior applications.
CSF is a positive part of many students’ experience at Aragon, but CSF applicants must be aware of what they are turning over with their application form. Grades are private. Even though students who qualify for CSF are often proud of their grades, they shouldn’t be expected to share them more freely than any other student. As with any other time a person is asked to share personal information, there should be a system of full disclosure, accountability, and transparency.
