School rankings allow people to compare and rate schools based on various criteria. The US Department of Education recommends SchoolMatters for public school rankings, while the National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state information. Newsweek and US News & World Report also offer high-level school rankings, but it’s important to keep in mind that ratings can be misleading.
School rankings are rankings of schools based on various criteria and designed to allow people, particularly parents, to rate, compare and contrast schools. As these ratings are incorporated by people in deciding where to live, real estate agents use them as well. Rankings can be national or state, district or school.
You can start looking for school rankings by going to the US Department of Education. This department does not rank schools, but recommends the Standard & Poors website called SchoolMatters.
School rankings on SchoolMatters are for public schools only. They provide an overview with contact information, a map, and general information about the school such as enrollment, student/teacher ratio, and ethnic makeup, with space for parent ratings, reviews, and photos to be added by users. Other areas covered are test scores, a classroom profile, college readiness information, district financial information, and community demographics. Also available are a link to the school’s website, the ability to email one of the school’s parents if there are any volunteers, and the ability to compare up to three schools in one state.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) provides state-by-state information. Your information is based on four areas: student characteristics, school and district characteristics, racial/ethnic information, and performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in math, reading, science, and writing.
Two national magazines have high-level school rankings. Newsweek’s top high schools have rankings for public schools based on the ratio of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and/or Cambridge tests administered to all students in the school relative to the number of graduates. Newsweek’s website lists the nation’s top 1300 schools, with additional data on the percentage of students at the school who are receiving federally subsidized lunches and the proportion of seniors who have passed at least one AP or IB exam.
US News & World Report provides school rankings for institutions that it claims are the top 100 public schools in America. Areas examined include student performance on state tests, the success of the school’s disadvantaged students, and courses offered at the university level.
It is important, however, to keep in mind that ratings can be wrong or misleading. In November 2007, when US News & World Report ranked the top 100 schools, they got the math wrong. A school listed as number 5 was actually in the top 500 of over 18,000 schools ranked, but not in the top ten. Of course, there was a retraction once the error was noticed, but it’s a reminder not to treat ratings as foolproof.
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