Westport’s Staples High School came in No. 9 in Connecticut in the U.S. News and World Report best high school rankings released today. Nationally it was No. 303.
A year ago in the survey, Staples was No. 7 in the state and No. 296 nationally. In 2012, Staples was No. 5 in Connecticut and No. 302 nationally.
Staples this year came in behind Fairfield County schools Weston, which was No. 3, Wilton, No. 6, and Ridgefield, No. 8.
The Academy of Aerospace and Engineering in Hartford was rated No. 1 in Connecticut and No. 15 nationally.
The magazine said its rankings were based on state proficiency tests, including how the school’s least advantaged students performed compared to similar students in the state, and college readiness based on Advanced Placement data.
What happened? Why are we losing our traction here? What are other schools doing in their curricula that cause them to supercede Staples in the rankings?
In reply to Judy’s post, one must first consider how such arbitrary rankings are calculated.
First, schools must pass two basic tests to qualify 1) HS must perform better than avg on state proficiency tests and 2) HS’ least advantaged students must also be better than avg for similar students on state proficiency tests.
Second, once the HS qualifies, it is then ranked by following formula:
75% – What % of 12th grade students TAKE an AP or IB test
25% – What % of 12th grade students PASS an AP or IB test
Even if one agrees that AP exams are the best way to compare schools, the formula still gives no credit to students taking multiple AP exams nor does it give credit to the breadth of AP offerings. The generic Biotechnology Magnet without Walls HS might have a higher participation & success rate, but I have a hunch many of the APs will be Math & Science related. Long story short (too late), it may not be a curriculum problem that has led to drop in rankings. Based on US News formula, we would rise to b/w #150-175 in rankings if we forced everyone at Staples to take an AP Exam, even if it resulted in zero incremental passed exams. Another solution might be to remove students not taking AP from Staples.
Clearly these “solutions,” to me at least, are ridiculous. These exams may not be right for every single student. I may be new to town, but most of the children I’ve met seem to be solid, upstanding and well-educated young men and women. Sounds to me like they are products of good parents and a solid educational system. Staples size makes it difficult to compete when boiled down to arbitrary metric, but I’ll take the breadth of opportunities and a community of like-minded parents interested in providing the best education to their child any day over 0.1% of an arbitrary metric.
A lighthearted closer: #123 is School w/o Walls HS, so the solution may simply be to tear down all the walls at Staples. (Last sentence was my poor attempt at humor…I’m sure its a wonderful school, students at that school please take no offense)
Thank you for sharing that information. Even so, why so low on the nation-wide ranking, and why are we lower this year state-wide than in previous years? I agree not to get too focused on statistics, but on the other hand, there seems to be at least the possibility of a trend that surely no one desires.
Like you, David, I am not criticizing the students. Why would anyone do that? I’m only wondering if there’s something that the schools could be doing differently, perhaps some recent changes that need review, etc. I think everyone wants the best in terms of educational success.
Just to be clear – I’m not suggesting that the first poster was interested in rankings over education. Clearly Mrs. Starr is, like all of us, interested in providing the best possible education to Westport’s children and I interpreted her question as an interest in making sure we aren’t shortchanging our children when it comes to their education. This is further reflected by her public service.
My only goal was to show that the statistic calculated by US News to rank (in order and not by class) many excellent schools is arbitrary. I’m sure every school on the list except those affiliated with #1 would agree.
Judy, I replied before seeing your other post. I can’t speak to the trend but the questions are entirely fair. Considering I moved to Westport to start a family I am very sensitive to a declining trend and am most interested in the answers.
Thank you, David, for remembering the years of my public service!
I hope that there are reasons for this trend that can be discovered and used to reverse it. For example, perhaps there are some things that other municipalities are doing differently. Or perhaps there are some new things that the system has introduced recently that don’t work as intended or that take time and energy from other studies. I don’t claim to have answers, by any means, but if enough people seek for and explore the reasons, then hopefully the trend will reverse and move upward.