Why High School Rankings are Meaningless .... and Harmful

[Anonymous]

A recent article in the Atlantic Monthly argues that ranking high schools, whether it is Jay Matthews's Challenge Index, U.S. News & World Report or some other list, means very little and is actually harmful to education. Rather than concentrating on educating our teens, education leaders and teachers - like college presidents - become obsessed with attaining and holding a ranking that may do little more than teach students how to pass a test and do little to further their education, development of critical thinking skills, etc...

Do any of these tell us anything about the actual quality of the teaching that is going on inside the buildings of the likes of Langley, McLean, Marshall or their Maryland and DC counterparts? How do you really discern what is a good public school?

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/why-high-school-rankings-are-meaningless-and-harmful/276122/

[Anonymous]

You look at the % of free lunches doled out to understand the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You look at the % of free lunches doled out to understand the school.

Go back to leaving angry comments on WTOP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You look at the % of free lunches doled out to understand the school.

You don't sound particularly intelligent.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't say they are harmful as much as useless. Most high schools are public neighborhood high schools. What kind of bragging rights (or potential advantages) can attach to going to a "top-ranked" high school? Unlike the US News & World Report college rankings, where you go to high school (unless it's an elite private) doesn't really provide a window into your future opportunities.

[Anonymous]

^You obviously did not attend an elite magnet. Top ranked public high schools like New Trier, Bethesda - CC, McLean, Shaker Heights, NYC schools - Stuy, Bronx Science, Hunter, etc., TJ, etc. send just as many if not more students to Ivies and comparative schools like Stanford than even the top ranked elite privates like Exeter. As such they're a pretty good indication of future opportunities, I'd say.

[Anonymous]

I don't think they are meaningless or harmful... i think they are misnomers b/c they purport to be ranking the teaching quality of the school when really, they are ranking the intellectual quality (or economic quality) of the kids. I hate that at least half of the schools in this state are labelled as "bad schools" because they have an overall test pass rate of average or less than average. It doesn't mean that the teachers are bad or the school is bad. It means that there are larger groups of kids who aren't at the top... and there may still be groups of kids who are doing fabulously (but they are lost in a label that averages everythign out.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^You obviously did not attend an elite magnet. Top ranked public high schools like New Trier, Bethesda - CC, McLean, Shaker Heights, NYC schools - Stuy, Bronx Science, Hunter, etc., TJ, etc. send just as many if not more students to Ivies and comparative schools like Stanford than even the top ranked elite privates like Exeter. As such they're a pretty good indication of future opportunities, I'd say.

Oh my god. Excuse me for insulting your alma mater. The fact that -anyone that lives in the neighborhood- can attend, say, Chevy Chase or McLean High School sort of takes the prestige down a notch, wouldn't you say? Yes, there are plenty of students at public schools that go to Ivies, but they're typically the high-achieving students. Most don't. The idea that some public high school ranking affects a college's view of your kid is hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^You obviously did not attend an elite magnet. Top ranked public high schools like New Trier, Bethesda - CC, McLean, Shaker Heights, NYC schools - Stuy, Bronx Science, Hunter, etc., TJ, etc. send just as many if not more students to Ivies and comparative schools like Stanford than even the top ranked elite privates like Exeter. As such they're a pretty good indication of future opportunities, I'd say.

What would have happened to that magnet student had they stayed in their home school? They would probably have had the same result.

It is harmful to the schools who have educated that child from K-8 only to have them move district and make it look like that neighborhood school is "better". It not, they just move great student around to pull scores up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^You obviously did not attend an elite magnet. Top ranked public high schools like New Trier, Bethesda - CC, McLean, Shaker Heights, NYC schools - Stuy, Bronx Science, Hunter, etc., TJ, etc. send just as many if not more students to Ivies and comparative schools like Stanford than even the top ranked elite privates like Exeter. As such they're a pretty good indication of future opportunities, I'd say.

B-CC is an elite magnet high school? Gosh, I didn't know that!

I also didn't know that going to an Ivy or a comparative [sic] school like Stanford for college was the definition of "future opportunities". I guess the students at state schools might just as well stop right now.

[Anonymous]

We are a generation basing our life choices on rankings. Best college, best high school, golden zip codes, best place to raise a family, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^You obviously did not attend an elite magnet. Top ranked public high schools like New Trier, Bethesda - CC, McLean, Shaker Heights, NYC schools - Stuy, Bronx Science, Hunter, etc., TJ, etc. send just as many if not more students to Ivies and comparative schools like Stanford than even the top ranked elite privates like Exeter. As such they're a pretty good indication of future opportunities, I'd say.

B-CC is an elite magnet high school? Gosh, I didn't know that!

I also didn't know that going to an Ivy or a comparative [sic] school like Stanford for college was the definition of "future opportunities". I guess the students at state schools might just as well stop right now.

B-CC is a highly ranked neighborhood HS like New Trier (IL), Shaker Heights (OH), etc. that send students to elite colleges and even
to state schools, like where you went.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

B-CC is a highly ranked neighborhood HS like New Trier (IL), Shaker Heights (OH), etc. that send students to elite colleges and even
to state schools, like where you went.

I'm guessing that you meant this as an insult. I don't perceive it as an insult, though. If "elite colleges" teach their graduates to type gratuitous (and incorrectly-punctuated) insults to imaginary people on an Internet message board, that's a future opportunity I'd like my children to do without.

[Anonymous]

Langley is the bomb, just look at great schools sol based to figure it out. Remember that a higher score is better for property values and can allow you to avoid private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

B-CC is a highly ranked neighborhood HS like New Trier (IL), Shaker Heights (OH), etc. that send students to elite colleges and even
to state schools, like where you went.

I'm guessing that you meant this as an insult. I don't perceive it as an insult, though. If "elite colleges" teach their graduates to type gratuitous (and incorrectly-punctuated) insults to imaginary people on an Internet message board, that's a future opportunity I'd like my children to do without.

NP here: Check out Bethesda Magazine (this sumer's education issue). Every year it publishes the college acceptances for all the Bethesda and Silver Spring high schools. Around 30 B-CC students are accepted to the ivies every year (out of a class size of about 450). So percentage-wise not as impressive as STA but still very respectable.