Wash Post's List of America’s Most Challenging HS's

[GMTplus7]

<p>On their list of Private Schools, it's eye-opening who didn't make the list
Private</a> Schools - The Washington Post</p>

<p>Based on their ranking methodology:

[quote]
We take the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school each year and divide by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June. I call this formula the Challenge Index.

[/quote]

Middlesex came out as the "most challenging" BS</p>

[doschicos]

<p>Only meaningful if you place value on AP tests. I do not. Some top boarding schools don’t offer AP classes yet have quality teaching. </p>

<p>Also, from the methodology statement: “We do not include any magnet or charter high school that draws such a high concentration of top students that its average SAT or ACT score exceeds the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country. This year, that meant such schools had to have an average SAT score below 2000 or an average ACT score below 29.3 to be included on the list.”</p>

<p>That probably explains who didn’t make the list. </p>

<p>Interesting that SPS even made the list given that it does not teach AP classes (nor does the College Placement office recommend taking AP classes) and it does not have an IB program.</p>

[Periwinkle]

<p>^^^Yes. The devil’s in the details.</p>

<p>Many prep/boarding schools offer courses which are more demanding than AP courses. Some offer courses which would allow students to take an AP exam, but don’t require it. I can think of a number of schools which have “Junior English.” Some students take the AP, as they’re prepared for it, but the teacher isn’t beholden to the AP curriculum.</p>

<p>There are also courses which are more advanced than AP courses, but for which no AP exam exists.</p>

[booklady123]

<p>Seems the assumption is that “test prep” is synonymous with “challenging.” Which may not be untrue, exactly, but I guess a lot depends on what types of challenges one is seeking.</p>

[SharingGift]

<p>A couple of comments attached to the WaPo article:</p>

<p>

“I put a huge map of the United States on the floor. Then, I release a monkey with a ballpoint pen tied to his left foot. As he hops up and down on the map, I record the location of each pen mark. The schools located the closest geographically to those pen marks go onto a list. Then, I remove any school from the ensuing list from which the average SAT score is over 2000. Finally, I rank the remaining schools according to a formula based on the sum of letters in the name of the school (i.e. each A is worth 1, each B is worth 2, etc.), increased by the zip code, and then divide the result by the principal’s year of birth.” </p>

<p>An only slightly more arbitrary method for ranking “America’s Most Challenging High Schools.”

</p>

<p>

If I understand this index correctly, the ranking depends on the number of AP/Advanced tests given and the number of graduates in a year, so if a school like Columbia Heights in DC has 100 seniors and provides them each with an AP exam, then suffers from a 55% dropout rate, it gets a better score than a school that administered the same number of tests but had a lower dropout rate? I would hope to be wrong as being rewarded for low graduation does not seem like a challenge we should applaud.

</p>

[SevenDad]

<p>So, will Middlesex “Chance Me” threads spike next application cycle?</p>

<p>I doubt it.</p>

[ChoatieMom]

<p>The monkey methodology works for me. I think BS use something similar for admissions, so all the worries listed on this forum over test scores, ECs, legacies, hooks and so forth truly are wasted energy as GMT has so nicely pointed out on another thread. Just pray the headmaster’s monkey pees on your application.</p>

[Valdog]

<p>Thanks for the much-needed laugh today, @ChoatieMom, et al. This list is downright silly and pointless to me. “I call this formula the Arbitrary Index.” Good grief.</p>

[chemmchimney]

<p>+1 to Choatiemom and Valdog!</p>