The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools - The Washington Post

The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools - The Washington Post:

The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools

t’s that time of year where we get annual high school rankings from well-known sources. U.S. News & World Report does a prominent high school ranking, as does Jay Mathews, my esteemed colleague at The Washington Post.

I have published critiques of past rankings, questioning the methodology used by both to declare the “best” schools.  How is the “best” determined? Standardized test scores? They don’t reveal much more than the socioeconomic makeup of a school. Graduation rates? They are often suspect, in part because some schools report the number of seniors, fudging what might be a large dropout rate in earlier grades.

U.S. News recently issued its 2017 high school rankings. The top 10 looked like this:

1. BASIS Scottsdale, Ariz.
2. BASIS Tucson North, Ariz.
3. BASIS Oro Valley, Ariz.
4. School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas
5. BASIS Peoria, Ariz.
6. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Va.
7. BASIS Chandler, Ariz.
8. Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston
9. School of Science and Engineering, Dallas
10. Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz, Calif.

Mathews, whose longtime “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” has been influential in what courses high schools offer, released his latest edition, and his top 10 looked like this:

1. BASIS Phoenix.
2. Mickey Leland College Prep, Houston.
3. IDEA Frontier College Preparatory, Brownsville, Tex.
4. IDEA Mission College Prep, Mission, Tex.
5. IDEA San Juan College Preparatory, San Juan, Tex.
6. IDEA San Benito College Prep, San Benito Tex.
7. Signature, Evansville, Ind.
8. BASIS Oro Valley, Ariz.
9. IDEA Quest College Preparatory, Edinburg, Tex.
10. BASIS Flagstaff, Flagstaff, Ariz.

[America’s Most Challenging High Schools]

There are some crossovers in the list, but perhaps the most striking thing is how many charter schools — publicly funded but privately operated — are among the top.

Critics have jumped on the lists, noting the problems with comparing charters with traditional public schools. The highest-performing charter schools often have extremely high attrition rates and fewer students with disabilities and English-language learners than do traditional school districts.  Charter school management organizations often spend a The problems with 2017 national rankings of America’s high schools - The Washington Post:

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