Few Public High Schools Make the Grade
What does it take to be the best? When it comes to high schools, Newsweek has decided that it all comes down to one thing: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge tests given at a school each year divided by the number of graduating seniors. One point should be noted: the scores of students taking these tests don’t matter.
Each year Newsweek chooses the top high schools in the country using this guideline. For the third time in four years, Dallas’ School for the Gifted and Talented took top honors.
This seems to me to be a huge indicator of how much stock our educational system places on testing both in and outside of the public sector. Of the schools that made the list, only six percent were public high schools. The majority were magnet, charter, and private schools.
According to a recent article in the Dallas Morning News, Newsweek’s list includes some schools where only a very small percentage of students passed the large number of exams that were taken at their school and excludes schools where SAT and ACT scores were much higher than the national average.
The exclusion of test scores in this ranking process reflects the possibility that schools might artificially increase test scores, letting only the top students take the tests. This vaguely brings to mind public school districts that artificially increase pass rates by lowering grading standards. It appears that once again, the focus is on some performance standard and not on the students.
A school’s performance is important, but schools are not children, and endless attempts to rank schools aren’t nearly as important as the learning experience of each individual student, with his own challenges, struggles, strengths, and aspirations. No list or rank can evaluate his performance; only a teacher can.
Inside ODYSSEYWARE’s online learning environment, students are given tools to help them learn, as individuals. Tools for teachers allow them more time to spend facilitating learning as opposed to grading papers. With this web-based curriculum, students are the priority, and supporting learning is what teachers do.
Do you think Newsweek’s school rankings are valid, and how is this list beneficial to students? How would you choose the best high schools in America?