<p>Ah, what would we do without the latest opus from the Washington Post education “guru?” Well, the 2006 version is hitting the shelves with the first “prize” going to the Talented and Gifted school in Dallas, Texas for its whopping 14.128 index. </p>
<p>Some school districts subsidize students the AP exam fees just to make on this ranking list. I have to give Jay Mathews credit to include E and E% value in this year ranking. E and E % stands for equity and excellence percentage: the portion of all graduating seniors at a school that had at least one passing grade on one AP or IB test. I think the ranking should listed by E and E % value. It makes nonsense that Jefferson County ranks No.2 with only 50 in E and E%. It’s even ridiculous that LSU Laboratory ranks No.201 with only 2 in E and E%.</p>
<p>I think last year the Dallas TAG Magnet was not eligible for the ranking (according to our local paper). It was considered “not for mainstream students”. However, the Engineering Magnet was eligible, so there was a big controversy. This year the TAG was eligible for the ranking.</p>
<p>banana,
“Mr. Jay” specifically excludes “public elites” like yours. You are too good for his rankings. See link #2 above, subsection “The Public Elites.”</p>
<p>I live in Vermont, and I had to search through almost every page before I finally found a Vermont school listed, at number 1034. Not a single other Vermont school made the list. I think it is totally absurd to measure a school’s value primarily on the number of AP classes offered. Do I think my daughter is getting the best possible education ever? No. Do I think she is getting such a crummy education that her school doesn’t deserve to make the list? No again. I’m not a big fan of AP classes, and this article just makes me dislike them even more. Why don’t we just eliminate HS all together and start college in 9th grade – is that what is being suggested?</p>
<p>Jay Matthews has been on this crusade about “more AP” for some time. It’s rather funny, though, that he does NOT look at the number of ** AP Exams ** taken, or the scores on them.</p>
<p>Given the concerns colleges are increasingly having about the “content” of AP courses, I think we are safe in calling these rankings a good tool for selling magazines, but nothing more.</p>
<p>Our school used to regularly be in the top 25 but a recent influx in hispanics (none of which take APs since most of them are children of illegal immigrants and are thus just learning the language) has caused us to move down to 265.</p>
<p>We are still one of the best ivy feeders in long island but yet just because our school welcomes hispanics because we do have affordable housing in our town, we must suffer in these rankings.</p>
<p>“We are still one of the best ivy feeders in long island but yet just because our school welcomes hispanics because we do have affordable housing in our town, we must suffer in these rankings.”</p>
<p>You’re suffering? How so? No bread in the cupboard?</p>
<p>It is my understanding that adcoms look at applicants on an individual basis (previous performance, extra curriculars, essays, etc) while simultaneously looking at the high school which the applicant is from. They don’t look at the school first, then the applicant. That being said, “an influx of hispanics none of which take APs since most of them are children of illegal immigrants” is not going to stop your school from feeding into the Ivy League. Besides, I doubt adcoms pay as much attention to lists such as these anyway. </p>
<p>The less-than-Ivy performance of a few students should not and will not be representative of the performance of strong Ivy-league candidates.</p>
<p>“Besides, I doubt adcoms pay as much attention to lists such as these anyway.” </p>
<p>I disagree. Some schools clearly pay no attention. Others do pay very close attention. I have personal experience b/c my son’s hs was listed as a top school last year, and this was placed into the school’s profile, which is sent to colleges along with hs transcripts and recs. I won’t go into detail, but at some schools it matters quite a bit, and at other schools it is meaningless.</p>
<p>The highest ranked school in my school system snagged the #16 spot, but I’ve never been particularly impressed by them. My high school repeatedly outperformed them in IB exams (before they took IB away :(), although we had the lowly 492th spot. The list of colleges represented in their senior class is good, but not awe-inspiring. The ranking doesn’t seem worth the paper it’d be printed on, so good thing it can be accessed online!</p>
<p>It is obvious that a school profile matters. How else could an admission committee measure a student against his peers? </p>
<p>However, it requires a huge stretch of the imagination to believe that any of the contributions of Jay Matthews might be relevant to college admissions, especially this ridiculously narrow and misleading list.</p>
<p>Well there are a cross section of colleges on your hs list. BTW, when I was talking about some schools caring, I was not thinking about top tier schools.</p>
<p>Xiggi, LOL, I agree that it is fool’s gold. There are also some fools that find this list to be golden. It sells magazines, and it sells homes if you listed as a top hs.</p>
) touching off the next wave of prestige-related threads on CC.</p>