Satisfied with #15?
U.S. News & World Report has released a new list of high school rankings.
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School was recently ranked 15 out of 62 on the U.S. News & World Report's Best High School rankings for Massachusetts.
The schools that slipped in front of ABRHS in order from 14 to 1:
- Number 14: Lexington High School
- Duxbury High School
- Wellesley High School
- Newton South High School
- Cohasset High School
- The Bromfield School
- Mystic Valley Regional Charter School
- Sharon High School
- Dover-Sherborn High School
- Weston High School
- Belmont High School
- Hopkinton High School
- Boston Latin School
- Number 1: Sturgis Charter Public School
According to the magazine, ABRHS ranked 'above average' for all four categories:
1). Student/Teacher Ratio
2). College Readiness
3). Math
4). English
Overall, a specific methodology was used to formulate the list, which often generates controversy. The magazine partnered with the American Institutes for Research, a Washington D.C.–based social science research group to rank 22,000 public high schools.
Specifically, the state rankings are based on their nationwide rankings. Schools that received a gold or silver medal for the national rankings are numerically ranked meaning if a school in a state is 50 on the national list, then it is the top school in the state, according to the magazine..
The rankings are based on data from the 2009-2010 school year, according to the magazine.
Susan Williams
8:01 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
I wonder if they consider the visual and performing arts in the mix?
Stacey Ray
10:01 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
The "Above Average" for category #1, Student to Teacher Ratio, is actually a detriment, and was a negative factor in the rankings.
Charlie Kadlec
9:29 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Charlie Kadlec
10 minutes ago
These rankings are published to sell the magazine. They rely on simplistic, easy to obtain information such as student-teacher ratios, although I wonder what "college readiness" means.
However, if people feel that AB is really "slipping" in the rankings, we'll have to take a look at what has changed from previous years. One obvious difference is that the per-pupil costs have steadily moved higher. AB was one of the top High Schools in the Commonwealth, if not the top one, when the per-pupil costs were substantially below the state average and below "comparable towns". We may want to return to that winning formula.
Charlie Kadlec
Acton