WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S.News & World Report, the nation's leading source of news analysis and service journalism, today released its first-ever list of America's Best High Schools, available at http://www.usnews.com/highschools and on newsstands as of December 3 (magazine issue date December 10, 2007). Based on an in-depth methodology, which factors in test scores as well as other data, this list is the most comprehensive of its kind. The nearly 1,600 high schools that met key criteria fall into three categories of distinction: gold, silver, and bronze, with Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, VA, topping the list.
"To ensure that U.S. News truly captures and recognizes the nation's best high schools, we teamed with analysts from School Evaluation Services to develop an innovative methodology that allowed us to analyze how well high schools serve all students, not just those that perform at the top of their class," said Brian Kelly, editor, U.S.News & World Report. "For the list to be meaningful, it was critically important for the methodology to factor in poverty and economic status, including disadvantaged students, average students, and college-bound students to measure how well the school served their specific body of students."
The methodology was developed by School Evaluation Services in collaboration with Andrew Rotherham, co-founder of Education Sector and writer of Eduwonk.com. According to the methodology, a best high school is one that succeeds at the following:
1) Attains performance levels that exceed statistical expectations given
the school's relative level of student poverty, as measured by state
accountability test scores for all the school's students in the core
subjects of reading and math;
2) Achieves proficiency rates on state tests for their least advantaged
student groups (e.g., black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged
students) that exceed state averages; and
3) Prepares its students for college, as measured by student participation
in and performance on Advanced Placement (AP) tests, which are
administered by the College Board.
Using this methodology, more than 18,500 high schools in 40 states* were analyzed for inclusion in the 2008 edition. Highlights of analytical findings include:
-- 505 high schools met all three of these demanding criteria (gold and
silver categories).
-- 21 percent of these top-performing schools are located in large cities.
-- 20 percent of these top-performing schools receive Title I assistance.
-- 4 percent of these top-performing schools are charter schools.
-- 80 percent of these top-performing schools have open or lottery-based
admission processes, meaning that they do not selectively admit
students based on merit or ability.
"The America's Best High Schools list provides an opportunity to celebrate and recognize high schools that are serving all students well," said William Cox, executive managing director, Standard & Poor's. School Evaluation Services is a K-12 education data research and analysis business developed by Standard & Poor's in 2001. "There are more than 500 gold and silver schools on the list that were able to exceed expectations across all student groups. It is our hope that other high schools will be able to learn from and emulate their successes."
The 100 top-performing high schools were given a distinction of "gold" and are listed numerically. The remaining 405 schools meeting all three criteria have been designated "silver" high schools.
Additionally, 1,086 high schools were identified that merit honorable mention for their performance on state tests. These bronze high schools met the first two criteria of this methodology, but did not meet the college- readiness criteria based on AP tests. While AP is by far the most widely used college-level program in the country, there are schools that focus on providing students with access to alternative college-level programs.
For a complete list of America's Best High Schools, visit http://www.usnews.com/highschools. To learn more about a specific school or to compare schools side-by-side, visit http://www.schoolmatters.com/.
* Note: The following 10 states and the District of Columbia did not have sufficient data available for analysis: AL, AK, MS, MT, NE, ND, OK, SD, UT, and WY.
About U.S.News & World Report
Founded in 1933, the weekly national news magazine U.S.News & World Report is devoted to investigative journalism and reporting, and to analyzing national and international affairs, politics, business, health, science, technology and social trends. Through its annual rankings of America's Best Colleges, America's Best Graduate Schools, America's Best Hospitals, America's Best Health Plans and its News You Can Use(R) brand, U.S. News has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. Available online at http://www.usnews.com/, the U.S. News website extends that brand promise and delivers the best, most accurate information on the Web, organized in a way that is accessible and easy to use.
About School Evaluation Services
Since 2001, School Evaluation Services has served as an independent, analytical resource for parents of school-aged children, state and national policymakers, and educators. Today, it provides parents with the largest easily searchable collection of education data ever assembled on http://www.schoolmatters.com/.
U.S.News & World Report
