http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/04/education/in-best-high-schools-lists-numbers-dont-tell-all.html
In Lists of Best High Schools, Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story
By MICHAEL WINERIP
New York Times
Published: June 3, 2012

...

What schools score highest on Newsweek’s index? Of the top 50, 37 have selective admissions or are magnet schools, meaning they screen students using a combination of entrance exam scores, grade-point average, state test results and assessments of their writing samples.

In short, to be the best, high schools should accept only the highest performing eighth graders, who — if the school doesn’t botch it — will become the highest performing 12th graders.

Put another way: Best in, best out, best school.

Eight of Newsweek’s top 50 are charter schools. For those who think an important role of public education is taking struggling students and raising their academic performance, this sounds promising. Charter schools are supposed to accept any child who applies. If the school is oversubscribed, there is to be a lottery.

What could be more democratic?

The two top charter schools on the Newsweek list are the Basis high schools in Scottsdale and Tucson, part of an Arizona-based charter chain.

According to the Basis Web site, the curriculum is heavily reliant on A.P. and college-level courses, and it includes Mandarin and Latin.

This means that only the strongest academic students need apply, and those who can’t cut it will leave.

...

I personally hate these rankings. My DH teaches at one of these "best of the best" schools and in my opinion the school is highly dysfunctional.

There is a pervasive attitude that the kids have to be perfect. They have to take a full schedule of all AP courses, which leaves them little to no room to explore other interests, electives, arts or anything else that might develop their human side, as opposed to just their intellect. Anything less than perfect grades = failure. The kids are pushed into extra tutoring, test prep courses and even athletic trainers so that they can be the best. (Yes, at sports, too!)

Although some students thrive in this atmosphere, many others do not. Over the years, DH has had several of his students hospitalized for what would have been called in the old days a "nervous breakdown." Some of their parents even came to the teachers and asked for assignments to be brought to the hospital so their kids wouldn't fall behind. Can you imagine? The pressure to be perfect also leads to cheating and a whole lot of begging for points once grades come out. Parents will come in and insist that their kids deserve a higher grade than they earned.

Of course, that part doesn't make the newspapers . . .

Are there a lot of incredible opportunities at the school? Absolutely! Would I send my own kids there? I'm not so sure. That's something we discuss at home often. Are the opportunities worth the potential cost?

IMHO, there has to be a better way of judging a school's worth than the formulas in the newspaper.

Your post reminds me of a recent short story about high school students striving to be admitted to selective colleges:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/06/honors-track/8986/
Honors Track
By MOLLY PATTERSON
The Atlantic
June 2012

This is incorrect. Charter schools in many states are allowed to have selection criteria; the one my DD attended had them. There is then a lottery from those kids who meet the selection criteria (btw, the application also wanted us to specify what preschool our kid went to and what volunteer skills we could offer). They also have a great deal of leeway to push kids out who are not doing well at the school. This continues to happen at the school DD used to attend--they basically will not serve kids with LDs. They actually mentioned this on the tour, though they didn't put it quite that baldly. Not coincidentally, their test scores are quite high.

Oh, sorry, I see that the author actually is setting up a straw man by saying that! Yeah, obviously, it isn't true.

The Newsweek list has been the subject of much discussion in my area and the long and short of it is that is a joke. The schools that regularly send kids to the top colleges, the same schools with most of the NMSFs, the same schools that rock the AMC tests - these schools are not on the list.

Personally, I think the number of test prep centers in a school area ought to be taken into account in these ratings, and should have an inverse relationship to the rating. When test prep and after school academic enrichment is ubiquitous, it could be due to a high pressure, perfectionist environment, or it could be because the school system isn't doing its job adequately. Either way, not sure I want my kids there.

I would not send my DD to such a school. Perfectionism is a problem (and one she already has), not a goal.



I ignore any such rankings, because individual results may vary. Besides, there's a lot more to an education than test scores.

Well, I agree with both of you, but if one is in the position of trying to evaluate a school from afar, the information does tell one *something*. It's better than nothing, or the nearly nothing that one finds on elementary schools, but needs skepticism and awareness that there may be more than one path to a particular result to interpret.

As one example, I tend to think that a high AP pass rate is good, but as well as saying something about teaching quality, a high pass rate may also indicate restricted entry to AP classes, or maybe huge outside prep. You just have to dig deeper if trying to make a major decision (such as where to move to).

This list is kind of silly, but I am sure it does a great deal to sell magazines and hype someone's feelings. I'm in Austin's camp. My HS (granted I went there 20 yrs ago) was ranked on their "Public Elite" list as recently as 2 years ago. This list seems to have been tossed away in favor of a new formula. It is now middle of the pack per the formula, as are some of the other prior "Public Elite" schools (or they aren't listed at all). I know nothing substantial about my former HS has changed in the last 2 years, or really the last 20.

But to the larger question, what are the metrics for an outstanding HS? Scores? 100% graduation? Teacher-student ratio? Getting into any college? Getting into an Ivy? Noteworthy alum? Academics? Student satisfaction/happiness?

No formula illustrates the true picture, as much as publications would like us to buy in.