By popular demand (from my only two readers): The Top 1,000 US High Schools.
First of all, let's hear it for #77, AHS! Let me tell you, when I presented a paper on this article in my cognition class I let it be known where we stood, especially since there were few or no Iowa schools on the list. What's up now, snobby Iowans?!
It's hard to hate a list that ranks your own school highly, but honestly, this list is pretty bad. My big problem with their ranking system is their obsession with AP/IB. My specific challenges to their article:
"Large studies in
--- I'm sure this is only established as a correlation, there's no evidence that AP scores cause anything. The same smart kids are both more likely to pass AP tests and get college degrees.
"That has led many public schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods to look for ways to get their students into AP... in hopes that their students will have the same college-graduation rates enjoyed by AP and IB students from the country's wealthiest private schools and most selective public schools."
--- Again, there’s a confusion of causation. AP classes don’t cause higher graduation rates for the wealthy students. Leaving issues of SES and intelligence aside, the wealthy students they want to mimic don't have any of the social forces working against them that the disadvantaged students have. Having AP classes on your transcript won't stop you from having to work to pay for college, reduce the challenges of being a minority or lower-class student, or change the way your home community values the importance of higher education. AP classes may help these students get into competitive colleges and get scholarships, but they won’t fix low graduation rates. /end soap box
Lisa and Laura, is this what you wanted?
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