Sunday, November 22, 2009

Education

Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings

Coming Soon: the New High School Rankings

November 05, 2008 03:31 PM ET | Robert Morse | Permanent Link | Print

Reader Comments

Public vs Private

Is there or will there be a ranking of the best private secondary schools? I am having a hard time finding such a list (looking particulary in MA). Thanks.

You know, some schools are already so good that there really is no more room for improvement, this is the issue with No Child Left Behind. Sure, it would be interesting to see which schools improve the most, but basing rankings on "improvement" is ridiculous.

Value Add

I'd like to see some measure of how much students "improve" in each school. The best schools may simply benefit from the most talented students. Also, aside from looking at AP and IB scores, how will "college readiness" be assessed? How about looking at two year and four year graduation rates from two and four year colleges?

What will these ratings really measure?

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About this Blog

Robert Morse is director of data research for U.S. News & World Report and has worked at the magazine since 1976. He develops the methodologies and surveys for the America's Best Colleges and America's Best Graduate Schools annual rankings, keeping an eye on higher-education trends to make sure the rankings offer prospective students the best analysis available. Morse Code provides deeper insights into the methodologies and is a forum for commentary and analysis of college, grad and other rankings.

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