<p>What an extremely random and stupid way of ranking schools. Just because a lot of kids take AP's doesn't mean it's a good school at all...it would make marginally more sense to consider how well they do on AP's, but it doesn't seem like a lot of AP-takers would have any correlation with success..they should measure stuff like class size, graduation rate, etc.</p>
<p>These rankings are ludicrous. What about schools that de-emphasize AP classes (such as mine)? We have excellent college placement and everyone is getting a fantastic education. Just because kids aren't overloading on AP classes doesn't mean my school is "bad". </p>
<p>Sorry if this has already been stated. Its a long thread.</p>
<p>Interesting...seems like some favoritism. I like the WSJ's list better by ranking by percentage of students accepted to the Ivy League schools that was done three years ago. Many of the magnets did not make the list that are on top in the Newsweek rankings.</p>
<p>yay #335, coral gables high school.</p>
<p>just like most of you i think schools should be ranked based on the % who pass the test. but anyways my school should be in the top 100 nextyear. Ap/ ib test are required and are free. The amount of people taking ap/ ib test has increased by 60+%</p>
<p>has anyone ever seen a ranking of private schools</p>
<p>Numero 174...represent.</p>
<p>The worst school in my county appeared much higher on this list than any other schools in my area. My own school, a pretty decent public, didn't rank at all, even though it is widely known that my school is better academically than the school that ranked fairly high.</p>
<p>The reason? My high school has a very high graduation rate. The other high school has about a third of its seniors drop out. Of course this inappropriately skews the numbers in their favor.</p>
<p>The guy who did this ranking said that this shows how "urban" high schools are doing their best to prepare the students for college that actually want to graduate and go to college. I find this to be very discrimatory and rude. He is implying that if you go to an inner city school, many of your students will automatically not want to graduate, and absolutely nothing can be done to save these kids. I think the kudos should be given to urban schools that help the kids with lower initiative succeed and graduate, while perhaps not with AP credits, rather than urban schools that simply facilitate what self-motivated students are already doing pretty much on their own. </p>
<p>Besides, this school that ranked highly is not an urban school. It is a surburban school with mostly middle class students that is notorious for letting average kids slip through the cracks.</p>
<p>This article is ridiculously flawed. No one should pay it any attention.</p>
<p>There is an OVer-representation of High SChools in Florida in the Rankings. 21 out of the top 100 schols are from Florida. Most likely that is due to the prevalance of IB schools in the state. Ironically, my school, ranked number 6 in the Newsweek rankings received a C grade this year from the Florida Board of Education.</p>
<p>My school's on the list...all the school's from my county are.<br>
But the school that everyone is nuts about going to because it's so great in this area is not. Funny how that works.</p>
<p>wow my school isn't even ranked.</p>
<p>why is townsend harris (NY) on the list? it is a public school, but it has a fairly rigorous admissions process. </p>
<p>i dont understand the point of making a list that ranks just the schools BELOW the best ones.</p>
<p>uhhhhh so upset.... my high school school dropped from like #32 to like #63 (Greeley, chappaqua NY).... stupid incoming class....</p>
<p>these rankings are based on stats from the class of 2005, no? blame the ex-seniors/now-frosh-in-college.</p>
<p>meestasi-
Proficiency tests stink at measuring anything except how bad the state is at determining a universal curriculum.</p>
<p>my school is in the 300s</p>
<p>Number 348....good enough</p>
<p>Coral Gables Senior High, Miami, Florida</p>
<p>This ranking seems ridiculous. My school's supposed to be #1 in NJ but it's only like 400-ish on the list. Which makes no sense--I know people who went to higher-ranked NJ schools, and not one of their students ended up in an Ivy or other prestigious school/ program.</p>
<p>Magnet schools must be taken off the list. Magnet schools take only a small percentage of students from a respective area, so it isn't necessarily an average. And the whole measuring system (# of APs) seems to smell of rotting fish--there are plenty of APs in every school that are known to be the easiest classes.</p>
<p>If it's ok for a mom to chime in here, I think the idea of ranking high schools is ridiculous, especially public schools. (And this isn't sour grapes; my kid's school made the elite list). It's even more ridiculous when only a single measurement (such as SAT) is used. </p>
<p>My biggest concern is that as the trend toward ranking high schools grows, schools will be tempted to do the same sort of gaming to get higher rankings that we are now seeing at the college level. Because high school reputation seems to influence college admissions, a very nasty spiral could start.</p>
<p>mine was 7 two years ago, 36 last year, and 16 this year. </p>
<p>and there is nothing wrong with some high schools being more prestigious than others. It makes getting good grades/rank from that school much more difficult, and students ought to be recognized for that.</p>
<p>my school didn't even make the list and we're supposed to be one of the best schools in the state.</p>