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Board holds public hearing, then approves DPI waiver to use local 'Laude' ranking for Wisconsin Guarantee
Summary
The board held a required public hearing and voted to submit a waiver to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction allowing the district to report its local Laude-based student ranking, rather than a pure GPA ranking, for the Wisconsin Guarantee program.
The Waunakee Community School District held a public hearing and voted to submit a waiver to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to use the district's existing Laude ranking system when reporting its top students for the Wisconsin Guarantee preferred-admission program.
Tim (district staff member) explained that the Wisconsin Guarantee requires high schools to report ranked lists of their top 5% and top 10% of juniors to the University of Wisconsin system so campuses can extend preferred admissions offers. The district's Laude system combines GPA with points for high-rigor courses; administrators said Laude has been used locally for about 15 years and strongly correlates with GPA-based ranks but is not a direct percentage-based GPA rank.
Tim said the waiver request follows discussions with the high school principal and that other Wisconsin districts with local ranking systems have secured DPI approval for similar waivers. He noted the waiver affects how the district identifies roughly the top 5% of the class (about 17 students in a typical class) for UW Madison preferred admission, but that the district usually sends many more students to Madison than the top-5% slot.
Board members asked procedural questions about the Wisconsin Guarantee mechanics (which campuses receive top-5% versus top-10% status and the requirement that students apply early action and meet campus-specific requirements). After the hearing, the board voted to approve the waiver submission.
Why it matters: The waiver aligns university reporting with the district's locally adopted honors/ranking system, preserving the district's historical method for recognizing top students while complying with state reporting requirements.
What the waiver covers: The administration will submit to DPI documentation describing the Laude system, the district rationale, and examples of how the system maps to traditional GPA ranking. The board will follow up if DPI requests additional information.
Votes and next steps: The board approved submitting the DPI waiver after the hearing; administration will file the application with DPI and report back on any DPI response.
