<p>some of the schools that are ranked very high (like top 200 or whatever) don't seem to produce kids with very high SAT, ACT, etc., scores. Like a nearby high school is ranked in the top 200 or something in the country, but they don't have the same number people get into top colleges nor do they have as high an SAT, ACT, and AP scores as we do. Additionally their classes are nowhere as indepth and hard as ours; teachers who have taught at both schools confirmed this. Plus, they have about 1/3 as many people as we do. </p>
<p>and there are other schools too, that are ranked in the top 100 or something in the country apparently and the people in their top 10% of the class have horrible GPAs AND SAT scores...it's like the hard classes may account for low GPAs but shouldn't ur SAT scores make up for that? in my school anyone in the top 1/2 (out of 500) could probably score in the 90 percentile, and a 3.0 is probably the cutoff for the top 1/2 of the school. and we send about 10% of our class to ivies and more to MIT, Stanford, Caltech, etc. Plus we usually rank #1 or close (top 5) in the state for math science writing competitions, etc.</p>
<p>so...what determines high school rankings? the facilities? how many computers each school has -__-? how rich the town is? test scores and such? awards? lol. just curious!</p>
<p>I didn't even realize there were high school rankings before I started coming to this site. Chances are they're based on something completely subjective so you should probably just take them with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>A school right down the street of me was rated above us (in fact, we weren't even on it) but they send MUCH less kids to top schools, have lower MEAP, SAT, and ACT scores as well as much less course selections. I don't get it >.<</p>
<p>yah the high school rankings seem to be like the college rankings but more BS (if that's possible). at least the college rankings are reasonable (hypsm in top 10)</p>
<p>and the REAL schools that matter--magnet schools such as TJ in Virginia--don't even appear on the lists cuz u needa test to get in. so what is the rankings for? how rich the towns are? cuz in general richer town = better school system. how else are u going to pay for good teachers, lotsa clubs and stuff, computers, books, programs, etc? plus the test scores that the rankings are SUPPOSEDLY based on...they have a lot to do with how rich the town is, too. tutors, SAT classes, etc.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure the rankings are based off of amount of AP/IB tests TAKEN. so even if the students don't do so well, as long as they are placed in advanced courses the school ranking will go up.</p>
<p>^^ We also have a much greater percentage of students who take AP courses (than the school who placed higher than us), so I think it's more than just that.</p>
<p>yeah me neither, since it's high school. but i was just wondering what makes them better?</p>
<p>oh and that's STUPID..no wonder my school is ranked so bad, we don't let sophmores or freshmen take honors or AP classes cuz our school is so numbers-oriented. for example, the 100 ppl who took AP bio last year all got 5's.</p>
<p>the newsweek rankings are based upon the number of AP/IB tests taken by each student on average, even though it doesn't factor in the pass rate or anything like that...</p>
<p>
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the newsweek rankings are based upon the number of AP/IB tests taken by each student on average, even though it doesn't factor in the pass rate or anything like that...
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that is really really really stupid. my school is probably ranked like 10752084750823758024705892738095 then--we try to "limit" the number of ppl taking tests (altho still quite a lot--about 100 for AP bio a year) so we can have a good average. and we do--we won the Nj semiens award or something for highest average</p>
<p>It's been established that high school rankings are beyond meaningless and that worrying about what they are or where they came from is a fruitless exercise. Don't cause yourself any undue stress; you have much more important things to worry about.</p>
<p>Your school is an exception for limiting AP classes. Most schools encourage children to take as many as they can handle, and the schools with most AP's per student are often seen to challenge their students. I don't believe in your school's number-oriented philosophy--the purpose of education is not to boast, it's to enrich a student's mind. Thus, I agree that the Newsweek ranking (which I imagine you're talking about) gives a rough placement of which schools can enrich education the most. I, by no means, am a ratings expert but I feel that the use of the number of APs, with IB weighted, can give a good idea of how effectively a school tries to push its students.</p>
<p>...Don't hate 'just cuz your school's #abillion =P You'd probably be touting the wisdom of school rankings if your school were placed #1 >_>;;</p>