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Is there a website where I might be able to find how HS' are ranked in the country?

By Magoo (Magoo) on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 11:38 pm: Edit

newsweek (magazine) rates schools, and a website for parents i believe does so...something like great schools.com

By Araesova (Araesova) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 12:26 am: Edit

glendale high school rules!!!!!

By Tanman (Tanman) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 12:37 am: Edit

I think the Newsweek magazine rankings were based on AP tests taken or something like that and there was a big discussion here about the validity (or rather the invalidity) of those rankings.

By Magoo (Magoo) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 01:03 pm: Edit

acually, they (Newsweek) didn't just look at AP tests, that was a factor in a bunch of categories. i thought it was fairly correct, they looked at grade point averages and compared them to how hard the courses were, they looked at the community and how much parents and teachers were involved (PTA, Academic Boosters etc.), also they looked at the schools environment...needless to say they didn't just look at AP's, i do understand you questioning the validity of the grading system you can never measure intellegence accurately which is why people argue over standardized tests. however i do agree that they rated the schools somewhat correctly and also its not used for anything but and article, if you're offended don't read it.

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 05:50 pm: Edit

Sorry Magoo, but the Newsweek ratings are pure crap. They give a general sense of school rank in certain states (Florida and Texas, for example), but the AP test policies in different states are so radically different that any ranking system using AP test scores (even in conjuction with other things) is inherently unfair and incorrect.

Many states pay for students' AP tests. Other states don't. Some schools mandate AP test-taking for students in the class. I live in Louisiana; each student must foot the entirety of the $82 cost of the test. Thus, many students who would make >3 on AP tests think twice before taking them. Rather than getting that 5 for school pride, students in certain states must comopare the financial incentives and the policies of the college they plan to attend.

If you'll notice, there are certain major states completely unrepresented on the Newsweek top 700-or-so list. This is due to the differing AP test policies and the biases of the ranking.

By Mahras (Mahras) on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 06:03 pm: Edit

The newsweek rank DOES NOT TAKE INTO account schools which select their schools.

On accont of math/sci departments in no particular order:

Mont. Blair high (MD), TJHSST (VA), Stuy, bxsci, bk tech (NY)

Also all boast awesome humanities and ss departments.