Newsweek high school rankings
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Anonymous
Good question. The top down culture there is not working. IMO. It's not the kind of atmosphere that attracts top talent to teaching. The test scores have become everything. They say they respect teachers, but they don't act like they do. Actions speak louder than words. I think Garza would like to change that, but it's a very entrenched culture. Maryland has unions. Teachers feel respected. I admire the spirit of teachers and parents in New York who fight back when they see wrongs in the system (the testing opt outs). That kind of thing would NEVER happen in Virginia. Maryland and New York have unions and protections. The teachers in VA are afraid to speak out. They are afraid to try things that are not "approved". No innovation is taking place and they need innovation coming from the ranks desperately. It is not encouraged; in fact it is discouraged. There is nothing to be gained by a teacher taking chances and everything to lose. They enforce this system by having a lot of "specialists" and "coaches" and bureaucrats to maintain their status quo. Teachers are not "smart enough" to make decisions, but in reality they are the only ones who can make the decisions that really count. I will admit that part of this problem is coming from the federal Dept. of Education, but some states seem better at staving off the negative effects. Of course my analysis could be all wrong. And, doubtless, there are other factors involved that I am clueless about. This is what I see. |
Anonymous
| You do know that Newsweek is a shell of its former self, right? The branding rights were sold to some no-name media group that also owns Latin Times. It no longer has any connection to the Post or even The Daily Beast. Its ratings are of no great importance. |
Anonymous
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I'm not going to make any lifestyle choices based on it, but the methodology they used seems pretty fair and objective.
When Dilbert was asked for his input on the strategic plan, his answer was "figure out what we're doing that works and do more of it, stop doing the other stuff" It has value, lower ranked schools should figure out how to emulate the higher ranked schools. |
Anonymous
Dismiss USNWR as well if you would dismiss Newsweek but many people look to USNWR rankings. At least Newsweek was a better news magazine than USNWR ever was. |
Anonymous
Methodology is much better (logical) than the insane Washington Post HS ranking system. |
Anonymous
U.S. News has long been known for various ratings and it has not been passed around the block as many time as Newsweek, which at this point is just a trade name that has been shopped repeatedly over the years. I don't put too much stock in ratings but U.S. News is certainly far more credible at this point than Newsweek. Anyone who really is familiar with media knows this. |
Anonymous
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They have different lists.
May 2015: General List - likely reflects the richest schools and/or those that cherry pick out the top kids like TJ. Aug 2015: The Beating the Odds list of which schools do the best job after trying to weight for SES some. They answer different questions - the general one would be "where are the kids flying highest academically" (even if your kid specifically is not a high-flyer). The latter list seems to try to focus on "who's doing the best job of educating kids that are on average tougher to educate" (so would seem to be more relevant for a wider swath of people since it's actually more focused on the impact the school's having vs the collection of kids the school has put together via selection process or boundary lines). "The Newsweek High School Rankings evaluates schools on a broad range of criteria in order to identify schools that excel at preparing students for college and overcome the obstacles posed by socioeconomic inequality. The question, “What are the best schools?” has two different answers depending on whether or not student poverty is taken into account. In an effort to address the effect of socioeconomic disadvantage on education, Newsweek is publishing two lists: “America’s Top High Schools 2015,” which ranks schools solely based on performance (our “absolute” list) and “Beating the Odds 2015,” which ranks schools based on performance while also controlling for student poverty rates (our ‘relative’ list)." |
Anonymous
Blair students are not "better" than TJ students. |
Anonymous
| Often, schools and school districts will refuse to participate in this sham. That's likely what has happened with most VA schools. |
Anonymous
Looks like FCPS participated since TJ is listed. |
Anonymous
Soon they will not be participating. |
Anonymous
.. because they are not ranked very high. It's the "If I'm not gonna win, then I'm not playing" attitude. |
Anonymous
Or, guaranty high rankings or we will not participate... (One way to make these rankings fair and balanced...) |
Anonymous
Isn't fcps ranked fairly high on the May list that was not adjusted for SES or at risk populations? It makes sense that fcps would not fair as well on this August list as they are very affluent and their biggest minority popularion (asians) are far from at risk. |
Anonymous
I don't know of anyone who actually takes USNWR or Newsweek seriously as arbiters of school quality. It's just absurd. |