Reply to Marshall "3rd for Best School"

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Reply to "Marshall "3rd for Best School""

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would be wary of sending my kid to a school where the administration was either so stupid that it didn't realize it was loudly touting a phony ranking or so dishonest that it didn't care one way or the other.  The error in the 2012 US News ranking was obvious, since US News identified the factual assumptions underlying the rankings on the school profiles.  But the Marshall boosters denied repeatedly there was any problem, apparently because they were so excited to be in the same company as some of the neighboring schools.  That approach kind of worked for a while, at least until US News updated its ranking with more accurate information on IB participation at Marshall and the ranking fell sharply this year.  The emperor no longer had any clothes.

A prior poster made an important point that too much attention is placed these days on rankings by the likes of the Washington Post and US News.  By treating a phony ranking as validation of the school's success and touting it so prominently, however, Marshall sought to focus even more attention on such rankings.  Anyone looking at the situation from outside can see that the school won't gain the wider respect it so obviously covets until people there are honest and candid enough to admit when they screw up.  For now, they continue to come across as very defensive and insular.   [/quote]

I think you're a little sensitive. We live in the Marshall district and have kids in ES. We weren't aware of the ranking, hadn't even noticed the sign, and don't visit Marshall's website, so I'm not quite sure how you feel they are blasting it from the rooftops. Most people in this area don't even know that TJ was number 1 in the nation for several years.

Who is "they" that you expect an apology from? 
Would you want the county to come out and say that the data was incorrect? They're not going to do that because it was last year and new rankings have already come out and no one cares about last year anymore. They would be laughed at.
Would you like Marshall to put a big sign out front saying "Not really #3?" Again, it's pretty silly considering how long ago it was. the new rankings are available online for all to see.

No one is basing Marshall's success on a data point or a ranking. Anyone with common sense would base it on teachers, test scores, etc, and ignore the news ranking nonsense.

I just can't figure out why the whole situation seems to rock your very core. [/quote]

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