AMEN.

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It uses only one factor to calculate its rankings: It divides the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and Cambridge (AICE) exams taken at each school by the number of graduating seniors. Note that the numerator is not even the number of such exams passed, but merely the number taken. So, a given school can rise on the list by increasing the number of its students who take "advanced" classes.

Conversely, schools that are more discerning and thoughtful about which students ought to be taking AP classes end up suffering in the rankings.

This. YES.

I'm particularly smitten by this particular observation:

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The incentive to vacuum kids into these classes ends up packing AP courses with too many students who don't belong there.

This is absolutely true-- and it is a serious problem for pretty much every parent who reads/posts on a board like this one. When AP = "differentiation" for gifted students, sucking mediocre students INTO those courses dilutes that differentiation and risks making it meaningless drivel or little more than test coaching.

My DD's AP Physics B experience is a prime example of what happens when a course refuses to 'dumb down' for those kids who don't actually belong in the AP course. The year started with over 20 students in that course. My DD is one of only 6 students finishing the year, and one of only two of them earning A's in the process.

Most non-gifted high school students have no business in these courses-- if, that is, they are as they are intended/purported to be. The pace and the expectations are simply beyond them.

Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.