Newsweek issues their annual list of the nation’s top 100 high schools this week. And how did the
Oddly, Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) did not make the list at all, even though test scores consistently show it’s head and shoulders above other
Newsweek’s methodology is based solely on the number of AP and IB tests given at the school divided by the number of graduating seniors. The list also omits schools that draw students with high SAT scores, focusing on those schools that serve the general population. Jay Matthews, who devised the school ranking methodology, defends it because it emphasizes schools that place high expectations on their students. However, his methodology has been criticized – and rightly so – for ignoring several key factors that make good high schools, especially test scores and graduation rates.
A better measure would might simply determine how many entering 9th graders graduate on time, and compare this number to what one would expect given the school’s demographic characteristics. That might provide a bit more realistic picture and give more of our local heroes the praise they deserve.
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I think the Newsweek rankings reflect last year’s academic class and DSST won’t be graduating its first class til this year. I doubt DSST will ever score particularly well using the Newsweek ranking system, because of its primary focus on the number of AP courses each student takes…DSST does not offer an AP-based curriculum, and the big focus in senior year is on a capstone research project, not accumulating APs. Yet somehow DSST kids managed to find their way into CU, Stanford, MIT, Pomona, Colorado College, etc. Different strokes for different folks.
DSST was profiled as a model “alternative school”…the kind of high-performing school the Newsweek methodology couldn’t identify…in Newsweek’s annual ranking issue the year after the school opened.
[...] best high schools”? Two years ago one of the Ed News Colorado bloggers correctly pointed out the weaknesses and limitations that would omit the Denver School of Science and Technology, for example, from this list. And [...]