By the List
We live in a world of top 10s and best of lists. Categorization is an American past-time. Bracketology has expanded beyond NCAA basketball. Very few topics go untouched by the desire of individuals to organize and evaluate – and schools are certainly no exception.
Two national magazines – Newsweek and US News & World Report – haw begun to rank America’s public high schools. Newsweek basis its ranking on ” a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2007 divided by the number of graduating seniors.” US News & World Report used a three-step analysis: “First, [they] measured how each school’s students performed on state tests, adjusting for student circumstances. [They] next evaluated how well each school’s disadvantaged students did. Finally, [they] looked at whether the school was successful in providing college-level coursework.”
Each magazine goes through a full FAQ and reasoning of why they are ranking schools, why they chose the criteria they did, and so on. And while it is hard to see the harm in these rankings, one might question the ultimate value. Measurement in any sense is a major flash-point in the education field. What can individuals, communities, parents, educators, and governments learn from these rankings? I suppose it depends on how much the school cares to be included in the list. If Newsweek can encourage schools to be more ambitious in their high-level class offerings, then job well done. If US News an highlight the work of schools able to provide good educations for all students not just high-performing students, I commend them.
However, in looking at rankings, often the criteria disappear from a reader’s mind and all s/he can see is the number next to the name. And the criteria by which they are being measured, on which improvement will raise their ranking in the future, are not necessarily the most important change that needs to be made at a school. Instictually I don’t believe that most school administrators will decide to reform their schools based on rankings. Or at least I certainly hope not.
Tags: high schools, lists
