Entries for December 2007

What have been the two most frequently raised issues since the America's Best High Schools 2008 list was launched?

First: Why was our school not good enough to earn a bronze medal when we are similar to others in our state that were?

Answer: There are three steps to the methodology. The first two (which must be cleared to earn a bronze medal) focus on the students' performance on state tests and are used as screens to determine eligibility for evaluation on the third step, which focuses on college readiness.

Our recently published America's Best High Schools 2008 has triggered a debate about how to rank high schools and what factors should be used. So far, numerous articles have been written about our new rankings. I have picked some of the more notable ones I've read.

Samuel G. Freedman, a journalism professor at Columbia University, wrote a New York Times article titled "Putting a Curious Eye on a High School Ranking System." Freedman said that "the factors the ranking used appear sensible and supple—overall student achievement, academic performance of the most disadvantaged students, college readiness as reckoned by results on Advanced Placement tests." Freedman's article also has extensive commentary on the U.S. News strategy of publishing rankings.