Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert:
A one-size-fits-all approach no longer works for everyone, the new thinking goes; a more individualized experience is better.
“We are changing the goal of high school and what it’s possible to achieve there,” says Tom Vander Ark, executive director of the Gates Foundation’s education initiative, which has spent $1 billion in 1,600 high schools in 40 states plus the District of Columbia over the last six years.
For parents and students, these schools mean an often bewildering array of choices — small schools within larger schools, specialized charter and magnet schools for things ranging from fashion design to computer programming, even public boarding schools for budding physicists or artists.
Newsweek’s Top 1138 US High Schools (16 Wisconsin high schools including one from Madison – Memorial ranked #924).
- Rufus King (Milwaukee) #308
- New Berlin West #436
- Whitefish Bay # 482
- Marshfield # 486
- Grafton #519
- Hartland Arrowhead #578
- Nicolet (Glendale) #690
- Homestead (Mequon) #758
- Central-Westosha (Salem) # 792
- Shorewood #839
- Brookfield 855
- Verona #911
- Madison Memorial #924
- Brookfield East #990
- Cedarburg #1035
- West Bend East #1083
- Riverside University (MIlwaukee) #1126
2005 rankings can be found here.
With only a quick look, I have noticed that Verona made the list higher than Memorial, and even a Milwaukee Public School which has 60% subsidized lunches made the list.
Newsweek must have made some serious mistake. Since we’re repeatedly told that the MMSD is the best school district in the country, shouldn’t all four high schools be listed as #1, #2, #3, and #4?
The ranking is based on participation rates in AP and IB programs. These can be very valuable, but using them as the sole determinant of high school quality is not something I would endorse.
1. The WaPo got it right, it is “the most challenging” not the best.
2. His measure of challenge (or quality) is amazingly simplistic. It only speaks to the college bound, assumes that the label AP or IB class is the same between districts. It assumes that AP and IB are college prep (they are supposed to be college level, not prep). It says nothing about passing the tests.
3. No context is given on the phrase “one size fits all.” As a historian of eductaion I would take this to mean the comprehensicve or “shopping mall” model, where a single building offers programs for students with diverse needs and interests. And the change they seem to be talking about a trend toward smaller more specialized schools. I think that the evidence about whether this is in fact a trend (much less a good thing) is still out.
4. The Tom Van der Ark quote is empty. What does that mean?
5. I like this quote (James Anderson is an acquaintance and a fine historian): “I think we’re still flailing around,” says James Anderson, a professor of educational-policy studies at the University of Illinois. “A lot of this is more theater than substance.”
5. If you go through the FAQ, you’ll find that Jay Matthews made a lot of strange choices based on almost nothing. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12535985/site/newsweek/
6. He also has some trouble with issues of causality: “Large studies in Texas and California done over the past two years indicate that good grades on AP tests significantly increase chances of earning college degrees.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12535969/site/newsweek/
TJM