<p>I wonder if these commentaries ring true to you and your experience with your high school if it is high in the rankings. Do college adcoms pay attention to these HS rankings? Or are they of more interest to realtors? </p>
<p>The</a> Answer Sheet - Oh joy: Thomas Jefferson tops all other high schools--again</p>
<p>Education</a> Week: What Do School Rankings Really Mean?</p>
<p>“Do college adcoms pay attention to these HS rankings?”</p>
<p>for top 20 schools, yes, it seems as if they do…especially if the schools are in high socio-economic areas where the colleges “think” additional $$ donations will come their way…</p>
<p>interestingly though, it appears that some of the kids who come out of these highly ranked high schools, (but not at top of their classes), are being admitted to top schools and are not necessarily succeeding the way one would expect…</p>
<p>I’m going to make a large, unfair generalization, but in my experience, the wealthier, “advantaged” backgrounds are more conducive to learning. Unless it’s old money I think the parents would have to be smart to get them there, and if the parents are smart they’ll work to make their kid smart.</p>
<p>The only problem I have with the rankings is that the list is exclusively public. Is there a private high school ranking anywhere – i.e., accessible to the public, not just to “insiders”?</p>
<p>I would have preferred a mixed public/private composite ranking, but I can understand the problems comparing apples to oranges. However, separate lists, including factors in ranking, would be helpful I would think.</p>
<p>^The Wall Street Journal did one for private schools a while back that just measures acceptance rates to a few select tops schools, so not very comprehensive…I don’t know how much stock to put in it. My school is on there, and we indeed have an excellent track record with colleges, but it’s hard to telll. I think it’s supposed to include public and private, but most of them are private with some public selective. </p>
<p>Here’s the article/list:
[url=<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-COLLEGE0711-sort.html]WSJ.com[/url”>WSJ.com]WSJ.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Thanks, CD. I see what you’re saying: not at all comprehensive, so very misleading.</p>
<p>These high school rankings have become an issue in my area. At least one of the magazines bases their rankings almost entirely on the ratio between the number of students and the number of AP tests taken because, they say, the number of AP tests that a student has taken is a strong predictor of success in college. So, to get on the lists, there is a huge push in the high schools to have EVERY student take several AP courses each year. Everyone directly involved, the students who are not AP-ready, the students who are, and the AP teachers, hate it.</p>
<p>One mom I know said that her daughter requested one AP class her sophomore year, and her final schedule had her in four. They had to fight very hard to get that dropped down to two.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While certainly the top public high schools in the nation are in well-to-do areas (primarily wealthy suburbs of major cities), that’s not where the big-$$ donations come from. The people who are giving the 6 and 7 figure donations are at a whole different plane entirely, and frankly, they live wherever the heck they want and send their kids to elite private or boarding schools. Sorry, I just don’t think that the level of wealth at New Trier or Grosse Pointe or New Canaan or [insert well-to-do suburban area] is the level of wealth that the 6 and 7 figure donations come from.</p>
<p>^^^then you know little about the North Shore of Long Island/public high schools and the $$ donated to top 20 schools prior to and after the little kiddies are admitted…</p>
<p>and the parents of Short Hills are no slouches either and most of the kids are in public…</p>
<p>I forget if it was the USNWR or Newsweek listing that just came out, but they listed the “top 100” and awarded medals to other schools. One school in our area that got a bronze medal is WAY down on anybody’s list that knows it well, and several very very good schools weren’t listed at all. Huh?</p>
<p>The idea that a national magazine can rank schools all over the country based on, I don’t know, a few data points is preposterous.</p>
<p>But every year the newspaper dutifully reports these results.</p>
<p>epiph:</p>
<p>One problem with trying to include privates is that they don’t routinely publish their “data”. For example, state test scores…then of course, one needs to adjust for athletic prowess: Mater Dei (SoCal), and DeLaSalle (NorCal) send lots of kids to top schools, including Ivies, but some/many are athletic recruits.</p>
<p><strong><em>So, to get on the lists, there is a huge push in the high schools to have EVERY student take several AP courses each year. Everyone directly involved, the students who are not AP-ready, the students who are, and the AP teachers, hate it.</em></strong></p>
<p>^^ That is terrible, and I can understand why everyone hates that system. My D goes to a Silver Medal school (Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs have a LOT of silver medal schools, so it really doesn’t distinguish her school from most other schools in the area), and the AP practice there is very different from this. While I wouldn’t say it’s difficult to get into an AP class, there is no pressure to take them at all (at least from the school), and the kids need to meet prerequisites, such as a B in prior honors social studies courses or an A in regular social studies courses to get into AP history. For all but the very top students, the guidance counselors discourage taking too many honors/AP courses at the same time.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand the metrics. I’m abit like Beth’s mom in that our little town is a silver school and now the bigger school in the town “next door” is too. I’m not sure it “means” anything. There’s no pressure regarding AP classes and neither school has a plethora of AP classes. The “neighbor” school is larger and has enough to actually have AP Scholars. Our school is small and doesn’t have enough AP classes for students to qualify. Both schools do send a high percentage on to college but that is socio-economic and has very little to do with how excellent the schools are in my humble opinion.</p>
<p>IMO: High school rankings are even more stupid than college rankings.</p>
<p>My HS is “Gold Medal” and one of my friends actually had her waiver (for 3+ APs) turned down. There’s a lot of peer pressure among top students to take APs, but nothing overt from admin.</p>
<p>My high school is not listed on the U.S. News rankings, despite being one of the best in the (affluent, suburban) community, having high test scores, etc. To change this, the administration has implemented policies to artificially boost the number of students taking AP courses, such as not allowing students to drop AP courses and cutting back on regular courses while promoting underused AP courses. The only people satisfied with the outcome of this policy change is the administration- teachers and students alike hate the new policies. But because it will boost our high school rankings, the administration fully support this plan.</p>
<p>I think the who took the most AP/IB ranking is the dumbest one yet - it has Yonkers High School as the 41st best school in the country, which is ludicrous. They are just the only EB school in the county and kids choose to go there. That said, they do a much better job than most schools at producing successful kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our school ends up somewhere low on the list - and there’s no questions that they’ve been influence to offer more APs. They’ve always required students to take the tests - even before Matthews made up his screwy rules.</p>
<p>blue,
All the privates I know of do publish data: test score ranges, AP classes enrolled in & the results of those, average gpa, full list of college admissions (not just some colleges), etc. All in the school profiles of those who at least wish to be on such a map.</p>
<p>Rodney, you say, “interestingly though, it appears that some of the kids who come out of these highly ranked high schools, (but not at top of their classes), are being admitted to top schools and are not necessarily succeeding the way one would expect…”</p>
<p>Is this anecdotal or is there a source for this? How do you track or measure college success? Not disagreeing with you, but wondering how to follow-up on college success in students from my highly ranked district.</p>
<p>
One of our city high schools scores the highest around, because of their rather large IB program. Since high schools with admission tests (TJ) can’t be on that list, don’t think for a minute that all high schools on the list don’t have admission tests. There is an admission test to the IB program, but because the entire high school doesn’t have an admission test, it can be on the list.</p>