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Friday, December 11, 2009

MCPS spokesman says US News & World Report ranking method unreliable after schools drop from top 100

Two years ago
November 30, 2007 MCPS Press Release:

Three Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) high schools have been awarded gold medal status—placing them among the top 50 high schools in the nation—in a new U.S. News & World Report ranking of America’s best high schools.

Thomas S. Wootton High School was named 34th in the nation, Walt Whitman High School was ranked 40th , and Winston Churchill High School was ranked 42nd. They were the only three schools in Maryland to receive gold medal rankings.

“We are very proud of the students and staff at these three outstanding high schools,” said Superintendent Jerry D. Weast. “They are providing a learning environment that encourages all students to be successful and are examples of the high standards that are held by all of our high schools."


One year ago
December 5, 2008 MCPS News Release:

Three Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) high schools have been awarded gold medal status—placing them among the top 100 high schools in the nation—in a new U.S. News & World Report ranking of America’s best high schools. Walt Whitman High School was ranked 44th in the nation, Thomas S. Wootton High School was ranked 54th, and Winston Churchill High School was ranked 57th. They were the only three schools in Maryland to receive gold medal rankings.

[...]

"We have high expectations for our students and our schools, and are so proud of the way their success comes repeatedly when measured against national standards,” said Superintendent Jerry D. Weast. “Great principals, great teachers and staff, and high standards combine to help us align our efforts with one primary outcome in mind—getting our kids ready for college."


Today
No MCPS press release, but the Examiner reports:

... Montgomery County schools vanished from the pack, according to rankings published Thursday by U.S. News & World Report.

Rockville's Wootton High School, Bethesda's Walt Whitman and Potomac's Winston Churchill fell out of the top 100 schools in the nation, after ranking as high as 34th in 2007-08. Fairfax's Langley High School in McLean ranked 47th, making it the only other Virginia school to place in the top tier. No Maryland schools made the top 100.

[...]

Montgomery officials expressed some surprise about the results, said spokesman Dana Tofig. He expressed wariness over U.S. News' method that relies upon state test scores, "which have proven to be pretty unreliable measures," he said.

1 comment:

  1. December 10, 2009

    MEMORANDUM

    To: Members of the Board of Education
    From: Jerry D. Weast, Superintendent of Schools
    Subject: U.S. News & World Report Top High School Rankings

    U.S. News & World Report released its annual high school rankings this week and, to our surprise, none of our high schools ranked in the top 100. We contacted Standard & Poor’s, which ran the data for the magazine to ascertain how this could possible, considering we had three schools – Thomas Wootton, Walt Whitman and Winston Churchill High Schools – on the list the last two years.
    The answer from Standard & Poor’s indicates to us that the first step in their methodology relies too heavily on Maryland state assessments. While our scores all went up significantly in this category, and are among the highest in the state, for some reason only one school, Montgomery Blair, even merited consideration. One of the reasons this index is so deeply flawed is because the quality and reliability of state assessment tests nationwide varies tremendously.
    It is important to remember that the goal for our students in Montgomery County Public Schools is college readiness and by every measure – including the U.S. News report – we are leading the nation. In fact, if U.S. News ranked schools just on their College Readiness Index (a combination of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate results), we would have had five high schools in the top 100 – Winston Churchill, Walter Johnson, Richard Montgomery, Walt Whitman and Thomas Wootton. Instead, the magazine placed these schools in the Honorable Mention category. Montgomery Blair High School earned Silver category honors.
    I congratulate all six schools for this achievement. We certainly appreciate recognition on these types of lists when it occurs, but it is obviously not what drives our work. I am sharing this information with you in case you get questions from parents and members of the public. As you know, we are graduating students who are well-prepared for the rigors of college and are succeeding in higher education at a rate that is twice the national average. While we know we have much more work to do to get every child prepared for college success, all performance indicators show that our students are achieving at exceptionally high levels.

    JDW:bls
    Copy to: Executive Staff; High School Principals

    ReplyDelete

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