High School Rankings Ad Nauseum

Parents Forum
21

<p>I like comprehensive high schools- my youngest daughter is attending one that sends a lot of kids to great colleges ( about 20 to Ivies this year- double that to schools like Stanford-MIT and Duke and triple that to state universities) they have lots of opportunities to excel in other areas, athletics, music, art and they offer many AP classes for those who are interested taking them. However once you get past 9th grade, you are either in the taking 5 AP classes track or you are in the track of kids who didn't get a strong education in primary or middle school.
I don't think high schools should be in the business of providing students with college equiv courses. Yes I think they should have opportunities for those who are truly ready in high school for a college course, however, too many students aren't ready, and there is a high percentage of students who are taking AP classes but their GPA is 1.9.
This is an innercity public school, how many of these kids are still going to be at Yale or Swarthmore 3 years from now?
I also like smaller schools, my oldest attended a small private school with zero AP classes. She had a great education, yes her classmates were handpicked, but she has college friends who attended small public schools from our area, who also did not have AP courses available but who are also doing well in college.
I wish some of this intensity could be focused on elementary and middle school.
I see primary teachers who aren't teaching math or science , then in middle school, teachers can't really do challenging work because the kids aren't prepared. High schools are expected to catch everyone up for the exit exams, but in our district they are funded less per student than in grade school.</p>

<p>I am looking through the list to see which ones I recognize so far the first 6 from this area, are all from an expensive suburb where the superintendent is using AP to increase rigor and expecting all students to take AP classes. WHich could be great if it is appropriate, but even parents are complaining.
I do think there should be rigor but it should be appropriate and with support.
I don't see the benefit for a student to be attending MIT if they get frustrated and drop out spring semester.</p>

22

<p>A school's ranking can jump or drop hundreds just by a single policy difference: whether or not it requires its AP students to sit for AP exams. Often seniors already know a certain exam is not accepted by their college, and don't which to take the exam. Some schools force them to anyway for rankings purposes; others do not).</p>

<p>As for Jay Mathews, he is a fool, and is completely unqualified to write about education. Every single column, book, article, or sentence he writes is deceptive, bigheaded drivel. He's never written anything worthy of publication. Furthermore, he chooses to ignore criticism rather than listening to it. Avoid anything connected to his name like the plague.</p>

23

<p>Late to this duscussion but amen to the gripe that some schools do not prepare kids for the AP test. </p>

<p>My D is not one of these "teacher proof" kids who can just nail any material if handed the book. She has had some great teachers, but also some terrible AP teachers who have not given her adequate preparation for the tests. </p>

<p>One (Bio) was a brand new teacher who barely knew the material. This past year the AP Govt Teacher abandoned the text and had them read Dinesh D'Souza! Wow. </p>

<p>I recall that in my HS the most wonderful teachers taught APs-- it was like the treat of being the senior esteemed teacher in the dept, you got the really motivated class. EVERYONE passed and many, many 4's & 5's. We were very prepared for the tests but it was not test driven teaching either. </p>

<p>Lots of kids in D's HS who are in AP classes do not even take the AP tests. It's really a sham.</p>

24

<p>This ranking is stupid. How about, looking at the schools that have the highest average scores on APs. This would show which schools are helping the bright kids in their school the most(whatever proportion of kids that may be).</p>