on the shallowness of rankings

Teacher, ref and poet TRP on Newsweek's "Best Public High Schools:"

Jay Mathews, an education writer, measures something worthwhile when he divides the number of AP tests given in a given year by they number of graduating seniors. The resulting number indicates something about rigor and challenge. But "Best High Schools?" Ick. You could totally screw over every special-ed student, every potential artist, have horrible student-teacher rapport, crumbling facilities, and any number of other shortcomings, and be considered a "great" school. The reverse is true. The high school that prepares my autistic nephew for success in the world doesn't register on the list. So while I don't mind Mathews' formula, and believe schools should strive to score well on it, I think printing it under the title "Best American High Schools" is journalistic malpractice.

It's no surprise that many of the institutions listed at the top are "magnet schools," which really deserve a category of their own. Also, schools that don't offer AP or IB, no matter how outstanding their performance, simply don't make the list. This may be a heretical question, but are AP and IB the summit of educational rigor?

They Must Be Doing Something Right in Bellevue

A few weeks back Newsweek published their annual list of the best high school in America, using a rubric developed by omnipresent education authority Jay Mathews. Here are the Washington state schools that made the list, with ranking and city:

11) The International School, Bellevue
33) Bellevue High School, Bellevue
50) Newport High School, Bellevue
61) Interlake High, Bellevue
107) Sammamish High, Bellevue
109) International Community School, Kirkland
374) Garfield High, Seattle
415) Central Kitsap High, Silverdale
615) Bainbridge High, Bainbridge
752) Blaine HS, Blaine
870) Olympia HS, Olympia
900) Pasco HS, Pasco
912) Sehome HS, Bellingham
969) Inglemoor HS, Kenmore
1041) Kamiak HS, Mukilteo
1106) Issaquah HS, Issaquah
1107) Lewis and Clark HS, Spokane
1122) Kamiakin HS, Kennewick
1138) Emerald Ridge HS, Puyallup
1194) Mountain View HS, Vancouver
1235) Redmond HS, Redmond
1261) Mount Spokane HS, Mead (Spokane)

It seems pretty apparent that the rubric Mathews uses is skewed towards larger schools--I think Blaine is the smallest one on this list--but all the same, it paints a nice picture of Washington.

Especially Bellevue.