An honors student or honor student is a student recognized for achieving high

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

or high marks in their coursework at school.

United States

In the United States, honors students may refer to: # Students recognized for their academic achievement on lists published periodically throughout the school year, known as the Honor Roll, varying from school to school, shows the student going above and beyond academic achievement and from enlarged different levels of education. # Students enrolled in designated

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere ...

courses, subject-specific honors courses, or school-based honors programs. # Students who are members of the

National Honor Society The National Honor Society (NHS) is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely recognized cocurricular student organizations in American high schools, with 1.4 million members. The purpose of the NHS is to create enthusiasm for scholarship, to ...

or other

honor society In the United States, an honor society is an organization that recognizes individuals who rank above a set standard in various domains such as academics, leadership, and other personal achievements, not all of which are based on ranking systems. ...

. Honors students are often recognized for their above-average academic achievements. A student who has made numerous appearances on the honour roll may be bestowed with some form of academic letter, certificate, or any other form of notification in recognition of their academic achievements. A similar concept to honour rolls exists in colleges and universities in Canada and the United States, known as the

Dean's List A dean's list is an academic award, or distinction, used to recognize the highest level scholarship demonstrated by students in a college or university. This system is most often used in North America, though institutions in Europe, Asia, and Aust ...

. A growing archive of honor students can be found online.

Elsewhere in the world

In other countries, the meaning of honors can refer either to a specific type of

academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...

or to the level of distinction with which an undergraduate degree was earned.

Honours degrees Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, o ...

are usually four-year programs (sometimes also three-year programs, e.g., in England). A student who holds a ''de jure'' Honours degree is eligible for direct entry either to a Doctorate (Ph.D.) or to a two- to three years very-high-research Master's degree program. 'Honours' can also mean that students have achieved their degree with a high overall average

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

and typically have undertaken a small final project, paper or essay (also known in the UK as a dissertation). See

British undergraduate degree classification The British undergraduate degree classification system is a Grading in education, grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and Master's degree#Integrated Masters Degree, integrated master's degrees in the United Kingd ...

. A third meaning is a postgraduate ''with Honors'' or ''cum honored'' degree, which is (part of) an academic degree itself, e.g. the one-year Bachelor with Honors degree in Australia, the one-year Baccalaureatus Cum Honore degree in Canada or the four-year integrated Master with Honors degree in Scotland. Postgraduate Honors degree programs generally involve completion of master's level courses and the submission of a long high-research

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

Philippines

In the Philippine education system, while an "honor student" can be used to denote students in undergraduate programs who achieved academic excellence, "honor student" can also refer to students under the basic education system (K-12) that obtained a transmuted grade of at least 90% after a quadmester (i.e. quarter). Honor students are classified into three tiers: With Honors (90-94%), With High Honors (95-97%) and With Highest Honors (98-100%). Previously, students that achieved academic excellence were ranked solely by their transmuted grades.

Criticism

Some researchers have questioned the validity of the honor roll as an effective form of

positive reinforcement Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posit ...

. It is argued that the pursuit of extrinsic reward is not an accurate reflection of intrinsic interest in course material. Many other criteria should also be employed to judge a student including standardized test scores, research experience, breadth and the level of courses taken, and academic-related extracurriculars performance. Writing honors thesis or semi-independent research in a subject may be more signal of interest or academic potential than achieving the label of "Honors Student." There are also questions on the effectiveness of separating high-achieving students from their peers, in the form of

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...

s or honors courses or Gifted and Talented Education.

Honors courses

An honors course is a class in which the most advanced students are placed. Most students placed in honors courses are highly motivated and dedicated to their academics and educational experience. Honors classes are more academically challenging and rigorous, also cover advanced course material, permit more in-depth study than a standard course of study and may require independent research. Self-motivation is the main quality that characterizes an honors student. In addition to being committed to academics, they are encouraged and many participate in volunteer work, organizations and clubs, cooperative education, research, study abroad and cultural activities. Honors programs have specific entrance requirements and completion criteria in order to graduate with Honors, or

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , url = http://www.getschools.k12.wi.us/highschool/counselors/academicletterwinners , title = Academic Letterwinners , publisher = Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District , year = 2008 , access-date = 2013-04-20 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130724021632/http://www.getschools.k12.wi.us/highschool/counselors/academicletterwinners , archive-date = 2013-07-24 , url-status = dead {{cite journal , title = Effects of Extrinsic Rewards on Children's Subsequent Intrinsic Interest , jstor = 1128110 , first1 = David , last1 = Greene , first2 = Mark R. , last2 = Lepper , journal = Child Development , volume = 45 , number = 4 , date = Dec 1974 , pages = 1141–1145 , publisher = Wiley , doi = 10.2307/1128110 {{cite web , url = https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=info:bzeZl4Su7h8J:scholar.google.com/&output=viewport , title = ‑ , access-date = 2019-04-09 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304150827/http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en , archive-date = 2016-03-04 , url-status = dead {{cite web , url = http://www.honorstudentsarchive.com , title = Honor Students Archive , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190403120049/http://www.honorstudentsarchive.com/ , archive-date = 2019-04-03 , url-status = live , publisher = William Cribbs {{cite web , url = http://www.honors.ku.edu/mission , title = Mission of the Honors Program , publisher =

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...