A new high school ranking, not so good
Remember Newsweek's rankings of best high schools in America?
Guilford County Schools fared very well.
Now U.S. News & World Report joins the high school ranking game ... with very different results.
Guilford is shut out.
Although no North Carolina high school ranks among the U.S. News Top 100, or Gold status, 34 are listed in the Silver and Bronze categories. None of those is in Guilford.
In fact, none from any of North Carolina's largest school systems: Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Wake, Forsyth or Durham.
Nearby, only Thomasville High School is named.
The U.S. News methodology is very different from that used by Newsweek, which bases its rankings on high-level courses taught.
U.S. News weighs AP tests but, unlike Newsweek, U.S. News considers how well students actually fare on those tests to compile what it calls a "college readiness" index.
I've probably been guilty in the past of hyping the Newsweek rankings. U.S. News throws in a monkey wrench. I am suspicious about the exclusion of the big-system schools, so maybe neither magazine has gotten it right. Nevertheless, both offer comparisons that should be useful on some level.
Look, we know we've got to do better throughout North Carolina in preparing students for higher education. The people at UNC and the community colleges have been saying that for years.
So, maybe it's time to look at what's happening at those Top 100 high schools that could and should be happening here.
Comments (6)
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Now that you're bookmarked and getting read (by me) regularly, I see the error of my ways. I apologize.
I like a lot of your thinking, though your personal style of moderation seems unlikely to move any of the causes you seem to care about.
I'll keep reading . . . and I'll also continue to push for passion and maybe even some moral outrage.
Cheers!
Posted on December 1, 2007 8:34 AM
Doug: We've posted one of USN&WR's videos about this piece on the site at:
http://web.mac.com/lpegerton/Site_3/Blog/Blog.html
(click on the entry about US News & World Report)
This video focuses on the highest ranked school. I haven't scrutinized the criteria, but at first glance it appears the US News rankings focus more closely on achievement versus offering.
Posted on December 1, 2007 10:21 AM
Thanks, anglico. I've gotten pretty worked up over some issues, like the state lottery, the Duke lax case and corruption is state government.
Pierce, I appreciate the link. My wife is a music teacher, so we'll check out your site frequently.
Posted on December 1, 2007 2:13 PM
The article says that "10 states could not be analyzed". I've always questioned the Newsweek rankings but I also must question this latest ranking since I do not see The Early College of Guilford. Is there any way to see which schools, exactly, were included? Was it just "traditional" high schools where there's no admittance criteria? I've learned to take all these polls with a big grain of salt.
Posted on December 1, 2007 3:17 PM
Doug:
A ranking system that puts Fairfax's Thomas Jefferson High School at the top sounds about right. TJ has incredibly strong admittance criteria and unbelievably strong course offerings.
It's hard to tell, however, how TJ and some other schools qualified, as the U.S. News methodology is supposed to comment on a school's ability to reach a variety of students. Schools with strict admissions criteria would not seem to count under their definition.
Posted on December 3, 2007 2:13 PM
It must be easy to get great results if you can admit only the most promising students.
If TJ can be included in the rankings, the Early College at Guilford should be there, too.
Posted on December 4, 2007 10:55 AM