Is THIS the reason Newsweek publishes rankings of "The Best High Schools?"

[battleknight24]

As many of you may know, Newsweek again this year came out with a cover story about 'America's Best High Schools.' While I have no doubt that many, if not all, of the schools on the list are fine institutions, like many people I found it strange that the formula developed by the article's author Jay Matthews consisted of nothing more than taking the number of AP and IB tests administered to seniors and dividing by the number of seniors graduating. The schools are then ranked by the calculated percentage.

What about scores and rates of state exit exams? What about SAT and ACT scores? What about the percentage of students that go on to obtain degrees? What about the extracurricular activities offered?

Besides the simplicity of ranking schools this way, due to the likelihood of High Schools encouraging more of its students to take AP and IB exams, the test prep company Kaplan has decided to offer on-line study classes for AP tests.

The Kaplan company stands to make more money due to the way Matthews and Newsweek rank the "Best" High Schools in the US.

So what would you say if I told you Newsweek and Kaplan are owned by the same parent corporation... the Washington Post company?


Peace,

[Melodybe]

1. Newsweek is owned by AOL/Time/Warner aka the Saudis.

I thought the post was owned by someone else.

But it would make sense.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. I have no faith in AP classes

A well run AP course teaches the student to answer the questions that appear with slight variation on every test. It is possible to pass these tests without knowing very much about the subject at all.

The best colleges encourage the students to take the real classes after the enroll as freshman.

[Voltaire99]

3. Nice post, Battleknight. (nt)