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Get Answers to Questions About the Best High Schools Rankings
Tweet Share on Facebook May 17, 2012 Comment (1)Since the release of the new U.S. News 2012 Best High Schools rankings earlier this month, one of the most frequently asked questions is how to find out more information about the data and rankings and how to contact U.S. News in order to get detailed questions answered.
If you have a question about the Best High Schools, there is a strong likelihood that it's covered in our Frequently Asked Questions, which tackle 18 of the most regularly asked questions about the rankings.
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Sources Used in the Best High Schools Rankings
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2012 Comment (9)In producing the new 2012 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, we used information collected by the U.S. Department of Education, among other sources. U.S. News has learned that Nevada's Green Valley High School is claiming that its data published on usnews.com is inaccurate. We're looking into the matter.
Broadly speaking, U.S. News obtained the school-level data on enrollment, ethnicity, teachers, and economically disadvantaged students for nearly 22,000 public high schools analyzed in the 2012 rankings from the U.S. Department of Education. That data is visible to anyone via the U.S. Department of Education's Common Core of Data website.
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Update to Iona College's 2012 Best Colleges Ranking
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2012 Comment (1)Iona College in New York advised U.S. News in fall 2011 that certain of its data points had been falsified, resulting in the submission of inflated information that was used in the 2012 edition of the Best Colleges rankings, and thereby making its rank in the Regional Universities—North category higher than it otherwise would have been.
[See our previous post on Iona's inflation of rankings data.]
Because of the discrepancies, Iona College has changed from being a ranked school to an "Unranked" school in the Best Colleges section of usnews.com. Unranked means that U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for this school.
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New Best High Schools Rankings Launch May 8
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2012 Comment (1)Please note we have moved the launch date for the 2012 U.S. News Best High Schools to Tuesday, May 8.
Due to the extensive amount of new data we will be publishing online for nearly 22,000 public schools, we are extending our internal review and testing.
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Correcting Claremont McKenna's 2010 Admissions Statistics
Tweet Share on Facebook April 25, 2012 CommentClaremont McKenna College has made public a report from the law firm O'Melveny & Myers LLP that detailed the data that the school is now reporting as correct—specifically, SAT, ACT, high school class standing, and application count data—and the extent of the data falsification that started in 2004.
[Read our earlier post about the final report from O'Melveny & Myers on the data falsification.]
Regarding Claremont McKenna's current rank, No. 9, as published in the 2012 Best Colleges rankings, U.S.News & World Report Editor and Chief Content Officer Brian Kelly said, "Our calculation shows that based on the data now being reported by Claremont McKenna as correct, Claremont McKenna College's ranking will not change."
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More Details on Claremont McKenna's Test Score Data
Tweet Share on Facebook April 19, 2012 Comment (2)Claremont McKenna College released on April 17 a 28-page, investigative report by the large California law firm O'Melveny & Myers LLP that covered why, how, and the extent to which the Claremont, Calif., college falsely reported SAT, ACT, high school class standing, and application data starting in 2004.
[Read our earlier post about Claremont McKenna's announcement that certain data had been misrepresented.]
In terms of the Claremont College report and the school's current rank in U.S. News's Best Colleges rankings published at usnews.com, "We're reviewing the report," says U.S.News & World Report Editor and Chief Content Officer Brian Kelly. "Our preliminary calculation shows that based on the correct data, Claremont McKenna College's ranking would not have changed. We will decide if further adjustments or explanations to our readers are necessary."
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Coming Soon: New Best High Schools Rankings
Tweet Share on Facebook April 16, 2012 CommentOn May 1, 2012, U.S. News will publish its new Best High Schools rankings of public high schools in the United States.
To produce the 2012 Best High Schools rankings, which will be available online only, U.S. News teamed up with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research (AIR), one of the largest behavioral and social science research organizations in the world. AIR implemented U.S. News's comprehensive rankings methodology, which reflects how well high schools serve all of their students, not just those who are planning to go to college.
With the May 1 launch, U.S. News will significantly expand the number of high schools on which we publish data. The number of high schools we will have information on will rise from around 1,800 to nearly 22,000, a 12-fold increase. The amount of school-specific data on enrollment, ethnicity, location, school type, state assessment proficiency tests, and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests we will publish on each high school will increase by more than three times.
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Best Colleges Reputation Surveys Go Out
Tweet Share on Facebook April 5, 2012 Comment (5)U.S. News is hard at work on the 2013 edition of the Best Colleges rankings, which will be published in fall 2012.
We have mailed the annual peer assessment reputation surveys of undergraduate academic quality that will be an important part of the rankings. These reputation surveys are weighted 15 percent of a college's overall ranking in the National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges categories and 25 percent in the Regional Universities and Regional Colleges categories.
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Data Collection Begins for the 2013 Best Colleges Rankings
Tweet Share on Facebook March 29, 2012 Comment (9)U.S. News is once again hard at work on the next edition of the Best Colleges rankings.
We recently started collecting the statistical data that will be used for the 2013 edition of our college rankings, which will be published later this year. Data collection for the three U.S. News statistical surveys—the main one, financial aid, and finance—began on March 27.
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Update to the 2013 Best Graduate Schools Rankings
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2012 Comment (5)Two schools have advised U.S. News that they had made reporting errors that resulted in submitting inflated data that were used in the recently published 2013 edition of the Best Graduate Schools rankings, resulting in their rankings being higher than they otherwise might have been.
Because of the discrepancies, U.S. News is moving these two programs to the "Unranked" category in the Best Graduate Schools section of www.usnews.com. Unranked means that U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for this school. This Unranked status will last until the publication of the next Best Graduate Schools rankings and until the accuracy of each school's next data submission is confirmed to U.S. News.
