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Most years, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has more schools in the top 100 of both lists than any other school system in the country

rankings validate that the school system is “seeing the benefits of providing the academic support that allows our students to aim high and achieve at the highest levels.

But do the rankings really mean much?

I feel obliged to question the validity of the methods used to rank high schools.

Newsweek ranks schools based on the Challenge Index, which was developed by Washington Post education reporter (and Bethesda resident) Jay Mathews. A school’s Challenge Index score is the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge tests taken by all students in a school year divided by the number of graduating seniors. (AP courses are well-known; IB and Cambridge also consist of rigorous courses for which students can receive college credit. Like AP, their standardized exams are graded by outside examiners.)

Mathews’ goal is to improve students’ academic preparation, especially in lower-and middle-income neighborhood schools. His solution is to expose more students to challenging course work, and he unapologetically describes his purpose as “advocacy as well as evaluation.

He says the Challenge Index’s key attributes make it the singular best measure of a school’s quality: It can be easily understood; it points directly to implementing positive change through rigorous course offerings; and it can be applied meaningfully to all schools—unlike quality evaluations based on traditional measures such as test scores, which, he says, are inherently biased toward schools in wealthier, upper-middle-class neighborhoods.

Walter Johnson Principal Christopher Garran

Critics

have attacked the Challenge Index for not effectively capturing what it purports to measure (school quality), in part because it doesn’t gauge student achievement, only the number of rigorous course exams taken.

for ignoring graduation rates and achievement gaps among socioeconomic and ethnic segments.

U.S. News’ approach

far more computationally complex

a school must do significantly better on standardized state English and math tests than statistically expected given its economic makeup; be in the top half of its state (approximately) in the performance of its minority students

“College Readiness” formula combines two components: the percentage of 12th-graders who had taken an AP or IB exam during or before their senior year; and the percentage who passed at least one exam—equivalent to an AP test score of 3 and an IB score of 4.

U.S. News project, cites three ways its methodology is superior: “We measure success [tests passed]—not just quantity of tests taken. We factor in how well schools do in serving economically disadvantaged students and minorities. And we recognize schools within their respective state.”

The U.S. News rankings have been attacked by education experts for intermixing highly selective “elite” schools, such as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va.—currently their top-ranked school in the U.S.—with schools having open admissions

Unlike U.S. News, Mathews eliminates some academically elite schools, setting the cutoff at the level of the highest average SAT/ACT scores of any “normal enrollment” school in the country.

“It would be deceptive for us to put them [schools above this threshold] on this list [because] the Challenge Index has been designed to honor schools that have done the best job in persuading average students to take college-level courses and tests. It does not work for schools that have no, or almost no, average students.”

As of 2009, schools with AP exam pass rates lower than 10 percent (schools that would have made the list in previous years) have also been eliminated from the main Newsweek ranking. Most of these schools, which are typically located in low-income neighborhoods, have recently introduced their students to academically challenging courses as a form of “shock therapy.”

Just as the Challenge Index is too limited in its concept of best schools, the U.S. News procedures try to cover too much. The crux of the problem is combining three essentially different criteria (college readiness, overcoming economic disadvantage and minimizing ethnic group disparities) into one ranking. Schools that excel in one aren’t necessarily those that excel in the other(s). Some schools that do the greatest job of preparing their minority students might not have total-school achievement scores that are among the best. Other schools characterized by superlative overall college readiness might score only slightly above average relative to their economic profile. In trying to incorporate “economic disadvantage” and the reduction of ethnic group (minority) achievement gaps together with schoolwide high achievement, the U.S. News ranking risks confounding different educational objectives. Depth and breadth of performance, and exceeding expectations, should be reported separately, rather than conjoined. Separate rankings would be easier to understand, more informative and less disputable—although perhaps less likely to help sell magazines.

Several principals, including Whitman’s Goodwin, noted how nonacademic programs that help students succeed and are a huge part of some students’ lives (arts, music, sports, civic activities, etc.) are not examined.

comparing large and small schools can be misleading

eferring to the many qualitative features that go into making a great school, Doran says, “The rankings are measuring the brain of the school—not the heart of the school.”

Provide capacity-building incentives to states to increase teacher supply and retention, as well as education research.

Authorize states to provide diverse learning options and assessment options, including the option for growth models, determined at the state level.

Congress should refrain from establishing any federal mandates to ensure maximum state and local flexibility to create aligned systems.

A one-size-fits all approach to high school learning is outdated and does not support the diverse needs of students. Governors encourage Congress to support state and local policies and programs that expand the availability of learning opportunities for students of all ages including, but not limited to, virtual school options, service learning, internships, apprenticeships, programs addressing out-of-school-youth, alternative learning programs, and the availability of financial aid.

Maximum flexibility in designing state accountability systems, including testing and other indicators of achievement, is critical to preserve the unique balance involving federal funding, local control of education, and state responsibility for system-wide reform. Maximum flexibility in state testing will help improve how students are assessed for academic proficiency and postsecondary readiness. Flexibility should include the option for states to utilize growth measures to assess student performance.

Teachers and school leaders must receive the professional support and training needed to provide students with the skills necessary to compete in a global society, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), literacy, and international and language studies.

High schools must compete with other more highly compensated professions for teachers and school leaders, especially in the areas of mathematics and science. Congress should continue to support and expand state-administered pilot projects on performance pay, especially in critical shortage areas or hard-to-staff schools.

Federal policies should encourage—not discourage—promising state efforts in dual enrollment programs that permit students to obtain high quality college-level credits or provide the opportunity to earn an industry-recognized credential while still in secondary school.

Congress also should support state efforts that encourage more students to enroll in Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) coursework and pay for student AP testing.

The use of a high school graduation rate in any accountability framework must serve as an incentive to promote state and local innovation to better engage and educate every student, and count all students who graduate from high school. Congress and the Administration should work closely with governors to ensure the proper use and application of the NGA Voluntary High School Graduation Rate.

Governors believe that career and technical education programs and career and technical education teacher certification requirements should reflect the need to better integrate career and academic curriculum and integrate career professionals into the career and technical education teaching corps.

States must enact a laundry list of federally mandated "reforms" to qualify for the competition. Duncan and Obama call this initiative "Race to the Top."

funding mandates are controversial because they have never been shown to improve student learning.

No Child Left Behind, an education law that focused on one-size-fits-all standardized testing.

A portfolio that includes multiple-choice tests but also essays, research projects, homework and classroom presentations gives a much more complete picture of student achievement.

Likewise, to judge teacher effectiveness solely on student test scores ignores a range of factors outside a teacher's control, including support (or lack of it) in the home, changes in the student's situation from year to year, or even whether the student happened to be sick on the day of the test.

We are for reforms that work, which include standards-based and common curricula that have multiple source assessments; student data available for classroom teacher use based on a comprehensive approach; smaller class sizes; new teacher mentoring; and peer assistance and review. What we oppose are reforms based on the latest bright idea that has caught the eye of a politician or pundit with no experience teaching.

We've been doing schools the same way in this nation for 150 years, so if we don't step up, then nothing is going to change

bility ranks among the top barriers blocking the nation's children from receiving the best education possible.

A board-certified, 16-year teaching veteran, Ursetta, 38, believes the lack of teacher flex

Although they follow school board-approved curriculum and standards, instructors can easily rearrange lessons to "make better sense for the kids" -- making better connections between different subject matter, Ursetta said.

The lack of quality school leadership is a big reason that experienced teachers leave their schools,

Race to the Top also aims to give a boost to charter schools -- special public schools that are given more independence in order to encourage innovation.

To qualify for Race to the Top, the rules call on states to create "data systems" linking student success with teacher performance.

National Education Association

members fear it opens the door to measuring teacher performance by how students score on tests.

"What we're really against is using a single [student ] test on a single day" to assess teacher performance, said NEA Executive Director John Wilson. "What we're more accepting of are multiple indicators," and teacher performance "observed in classroom should count as the major part of evaluation."

many teachers are reacting coolly to Race to the Top because they "feel like it's too much like No Child Left Behind and are looking for something different.

Dubbed Race to the Top, the program is essentially a contest pitting states against each other to win a share of $4.35 billion in grant money from congressional stimulus legislation.

Although many Amazigh are illiterate, the government has put in place measures to assist schools to teach the written form of the language.

This written form is expected to have a unifying effect.

"My parents couldn't read a newspaper or understand the television because they were in Arabic," he says. "Now we have our own television channel and magazines in Berber. We feel much closer now to people in the Rif and Atlas Mountains."

"Most Moroccans grow up speaking Berber - why should they be at a disadvantage in having to use classical Arabic which is a foreign language whenever they brush up against bureaucracy?"