So many have commented on how many kids here claim to go to one of the best schools in their State/county or this Country, that I took an informal poll. First, who is doing the rankings? The only National rankings seem to be Newsweek’s, which simply notes the average number of AP classes taken. There are the top prep schools in the Country in New England, about 5 schools, and the top magnet schools, maybe another 10. There are 2 or three top private schools in every City other than NY which has about 10. But after that, what makes a high school tops?
<p>haha im sorry i thought you were talking about colleges. i didn't bother to read what you wrote. sorry.</p>
<p>i think he's asking about top ranking high school wise.</p>
<p>in california, the state does a ranking at the end of every year, so that's how we know, but as for other states, i have no idea.</p>
<p>I'm not aware that there's been any study of high schools that's both comprehensive and systematic. </p>
<p>Factors I'd look at are percentage of students going on to attend four year colleges, median SAT score, and then the sticker: evaluating the quality of the colleges attended. Having 77 percent of your class attending the East Jersey Machinists and Florists College is a lot less impressive than having 30 percent attend HYPSMC+Top 15 LAC's.</p>
<p>ysc87 -- as a Cal resident, and someone who is active in educational matters, I have never heard of a state HS ranking. The state does report test scores averages on state standardized tests, (which track income, not necessarily teaching), but "ranking" similar to how USNews or Princeton or Fiske does it? Could you refer us to a url or other source?</p>
<p>TD: some of my best friends are florists, but not from NJ! LOL</p>
<p>my school's average SAT score is 1350, 100% garantee 4 years college, 99% admit to UC system, above 40% admit to considering very "selective" colleges in US. Private Boarding. less than 400 people from 9-12 grade, about 16 AP. Is this one of the best school???</p>
<p>if your school is so good, they should also have a good English class to teach kids how to spell words like garantee</p>
<p>errr...I am sooooooo sorry-_-; maybe my school sucks....:p</p>
<p>hmm.... i just know that a list comes out, and is published in the LA Times once a year. it's a 2-4 page report based on a school's API score.</p>
<p>maybe this'll help <a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide03b.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide03b.pdf</a></p>
<p>I have two examples...</p>
<p>My old high school, New Trier High School (Winnetka, IL) (public), has been nationally recognized in magazines (Time, etc) for being at the top as far as public schools go. Not only that, but most of the teachers at my new school (in Colorado) who have never been to Chicago or Illinois have heard about New Trier.</p>
<p>My new school, as a family friend that is an admissions officer for this area of the country told me, is the most respected by colleges out of Colorado, and the surrounding states....</p>
<p>So there, I explained how I know that my schools are "the best" or close to the best, in their respective states...</p>
<p>Here is the most well-known list of top public high schools:</p>
<p>Heyyy my school is number 14! i knew palm harbor univ hs was nationally known cuz of our ib program, but i never knew its ranking out of all public schools. awesomee i feel so cool</p>
<p>That link is to the list from the year 2000. I know Newsweek has published at least two subsequent lists, but I can only find one of them online. They're fairly similar, although there were some new schools in the "top 100" in the past couple years.</p>
<p>I go to one of the worst schools in the....yeah. My school is pretty bad. You guys are lucky. A smell hits me when i walk into school in the morning. The smell comes from the smelly students that crowd the halls. Sheewwwwww. Even though my school is not great, I still learn as well as anyone at "the #1 school." I dont think it matters how good someones school is as long as that student has a passion to learn. If they have that passion, they'll learn either way.</p>
<p>I teach AP at one of the top 20 Challenge Index Schools (per Jay Mathews and published periodically in Newsweek). This ranking simply measures the levels at which a public high school provides students access to challenging courses (which Mathews defines as AP or IB). He believes that all students should be encouraged and prepared to take these courses, and that restricting access to these courses to only the top students in a school is not sound educational policy. Studies (among them, Adelman, 1999 <a href="http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox/index.html</a> ) show that students who are exposed to the most rigorous coursework in high school are significantly less likely to drop out of college. Mathews' work is built on his chronicle of Jaime Escalante's AP Calc students' success in a poor East LA high school (movie: Stand and Deliver). His ratio is determined by calculating the # of AP tests taken in a particular year taken divided by the # of seniors in that year's graduating class. The higher ratios indicate that more students have access to these challenging courses.</p>
<p>That's it, that's all it is. There are other tangible and intangible ("the feel") variables by which to measure the quality of the education dispensed at a particular school. The Challenge Index gets taken way out of context and made more important than it should be due to the media exposure and our society's insatiable appetite for rankings and having a #1.</p>
<p>Matthew's approach to ranking is, to put it kindly, better at selling magazines (Newsweek, to be specific) than as a tool for the identification of top high schools. There are other rankings, primarily based on percentage of kids that get into ivies or elite schools. One was in Money magazine, if I recall, and one in the Wall Street Journal. Both were flawed by geography. Many northeast kids to to ivies. Guess why? Close to home. You get the idea.</p>
<p>To answer the IP's question, what makes a school tops? It is very simple. Have rich parents that went to elite colleges themselves. Yes, it is that simple. Everything tracks parents SES (socioeconomic status). </p>
<p>Now for the real question: So what?</p>
<p>The most interesting study I saw a few years ago found that kids from top hs were at a disadvantage in applying to elite schools. Why? The competition. It is much harder to stand out at these top schools, especially the magnet and exam schools.</p>
<p>My highschool has the same problem, it's like a magnet school, but not technically called one, but it recruits the top students from like a 45 minute radius so even the kids in teh middle of the class would have been in like the top 10 percent if they'd gone to normal high schools. my school has to try to convey this point to colleges, and it makes me wonder if it's gonna hurt me because my ranking will be lower than it otherwise could have been. Will colleges actually consider the kind of high school you go to?</p>
<p>OK, let's go with Elizabeth's list. Can everyone please consult this before declaring they go to a top high school? Not that I think Jay Matthews really makes sense, but it is just crazy that EVERYONE thinks their high school is tops and that it is an advantage!</p>
<p>I'm throwing TJ, the magnet high school for northern virginia out as my vote for best high school in the country, public or private. Average SAT 1480, 150-180 NM SemiFinalists a year. I've seen a few of them around on the board, but this school is top notch.</p>
<p>That tests per student ranking of HSs is more way more inaccurate in terms of educational value than US News is for colleges. But if you want to go by it, northern va has 13 in the top 100, 16 in the top 125. Which is quite impressive, especially when you take into account that TJ takes the top kids. And yes, adcoms at all competitive schools are aware of the northern va academic powerhouse. Does it help you? Well, you have to compete against all the other kids from nova for the spots...</p>