Katie Sanders hoped her hard work and study would earn her valedictorian status at Woodstock High School last year.

But in her senior year, Sanders’ class rank fell to third and the coveted titles of valedictorian and salutatorian went instead to two students who spent their final year of high school in classes at Kennesaw State University.

“I have never been that upset in my life. I was absolutely heartbroken because that was something that I was working for all four years,” said Sanders, now a college freshman at KSU. “I could have gotten scholarships for being No. 1 or No. 2, but there’s nothing out there for No. 3."

Sanders, Etowah High School senior Sydney Perlotto and other top students have seen how heightened focus on college admission -- and the incentives for top performers -- have changed and, some say, tainted in recent years the time-honored tradition of naming class valedictorians.

Public outcry ensued this spring after word leaked that Perlotto, who had been ranked No. 1 in her class since ninth grade, lost that position to Kelly McCahill, a dual-enrolled student who never attended class at Etowah and spent her senior year as an on-campus student at the University of West Georgia some 50 miles away.

Students at Etowah objected to their school's honor going to someone who most of them had never met. But the furor also brought to light how some students are taking advantage of more heavily weighted Advanced Placement classes and college courses to boost their chances of becoming valedictorian. In some cases, they have at the 11th-hour leap-frogged over other contenders with GPAs varying by a fraction of a percent.

Some school systems across the country have stopped bestowing the title that has historically put the top senior on center stage at graduation and has been a door-opener to college admissions and scholarships.

Three high schools in Key West, Fla., halted recognizing valedictorians and salutatorians for a couple years, only to restart the tradition this year.

"The previous administration eliminated this designation because of the students' competitive nature and chasing [those titles] by taking on-line courses, dual enrollment, etc.," said Jesus Jara, chief operating officer for the Monroe County School District.

Georgia still gives quite salute to its valedictorians. In the recent General Assembly session, lawmakers singled out high school valedictorians and salutatorians to be among a select group who will still be entitled next fall to a HOPE scholarship covering 100 percent of their tuition. The governor had long given each valedictorian a $900 scholarship, but the practice ended several years ago because of budget cuts.

The top two graduates from every SACS-accredited Georgia high school are also guaranteed admission to the University of Georgia, which by UGA estimates means about five percent of its first-year students were high school valedictorians and salutatorians.

Cherokee case studies

Sanders and Perlotto, their parents and classmates all thought the two had good shots at being No. 1 in their class. But each was bumped in the rankings in their senior year by a student who was dually enrolled in high school and college. The system used to calculate GPAs gives heavier weight to college grades than to traditional high school classes or the arguably tougher Advanced Placement classes.

AP classes are popular among students for the challenge and the potential to earn college credit.

Perlotto's family said that the system is unfair, while McCahill and her family said she did what the rules allow and deserves the title.The president of West Georgia rallied to her defense against a barrage of media attention and negative public reaction.

McCahill declined comment on Friday.

The Cherokee County school system's response was to give all five of the county’s high schools the option of having co-valedictorians and co-salutatorians this year. “To avoid similar instances going forward,” the local school board also decreed that starting next year, all juniors and seniors would have to take at least two courses per semester at their home high school to be considered for valedictorian.

In addition, the school board decided to assign a college course A grade as a numerical grade of 95 and not 100 that had been the school system's standard. The grade was a potential game-changer when the tiniest fraction of a percentage point can mean the difference in being a classes' No. 1 and No. 2 students. The school administration said an extra bump in GPA for taking college credits was an edict from the state legislature.

Nancy McDuff, associate vice president of admissions and enrollment at UGA, said there is no norm for calculating the honor.

"I think there are almost as many ways to calculate a valedictorian and salutatorian as there are high schools in the state,” she said. “Some only consider courses taken at the high school. Some give higher weight to Advanced Placement or honors courses. There are lots of different ways to do it.”

In Cherokee, officials said they will make public the names of the valedictorians and salutatorians next week.

Mark Perlotto, the father of Sydney Perlotto, said he expects his daughter and McCahill to share the honors as co-valedictorians. Sydney Perlotto is working on her speech, but is anxious now to move on, her father said.

" She's said: ‘I'm done worrying about it. I'm done dealing with it. I just want to move on with my life and put this crazy chapter behind me,'" he said. "That's not the impression or memory that a student should have of their graduation."

Danny Cook, a computer science student at Georgia Tech and 2009 valedictorian at Gwinnett County's Collins Hill High School, said he's definitely seen students "gaming the system" in their quest to be school valedictorian.

"Back when I was in high school, students would take AP level classes to try to gain an edge because of additional grade weighting, some to the point that students would switch to schools that offered more AP classes, just so they would be able to transfer the credits back to gain an edge in the running for valedictorian," he said. "Just this past year, I had a close friend who had to fight very hard for his spot, because the student in second place took an additional AP class online in order to try to gain the edge."

Cook doesn't agree with such strategies.

"Taking an additional online course, to me, doesn't have anywhere near the same difficulty level as an actual class within a school," he said. "Who is to stop a student from consulting his or her textbook and notes during online assignments, for example? Being valedictorian should be representative of your academic achievement, not your ability to game the system."

Jake Earl, a 2006 graduate of East Paulding High School who was a dual-enrollment student at West Georgia his last two years, has a different perspective.

In his senior year at East Paulding, the county changed its policy from treating college A's as 99s to 95s. It also determined at the same time students in high school honors classes should receive 3 bonus points on their final numerical grade and AP class students an additional 5 points. He wound up as class salutatorian.

"I didn't challenge the administration about my being named salutatorian, though people from the community complained on my behalf. Some people also complained that I did not deserve salutatorian, for many of the same reasons that Katie McCahill's status is being challenged," he said. "Trying to fix things by adjusting the way numerical grades of dual-enrollment students are calculated not only fails to get to the heart of the issue -- that we think ‘valedictorian' means something more substantial -- but treats students who are busting their butts by making good grades in college courses unfairly."

Staff writer Jaime Sarrio contributed to this article.