Post by richardkelsey on May 29, 2008 13:23:15 GMT -5
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link to US News
www.usnews.com/directories/high-schools/index_html/state_id+NJ/page_number+1/page_size+10/sort+alpha/name+/award+/school_name+/county+Monmouth/detail+less
Freehold, High-Tech among nation's top high schools
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKINGS CONFIRMED
By Joshua Riley • EDUCATION WRITER • May 29, 2008
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FREEHOLD — Three dozen New Jersey schools have been named by U.S. News & World Report as some of the top 1,591 high schools in the nation, according to recently updated 2008 high school rankings.
The results were released in December 2007 and updated and confirmed on May 19.
The company awarded the top 505 schools gold or silver rankings and those ranked between 506 and 1,591 received the bronze recognition.
Five New Jersey schools ranked in the top 100, and 11 more in the top 505.
Out of 18,790 schools, High Technology High School, in the Lincroft section of Middletown, placed seventh and three others in the county ranked in the top 505.
Freehold High School is the only traditional public school in the county to receive silver recognition.
The analysis was based on 2005-2006 school year standardized test scores — the HSPA test in New Jersey — as well as the number of students who took the AP exams and the number of them who passed, according to the U.S. News Web site.
But, test scores differ between those with differing backgrounds, and thus paint only a part of the picture.
Andrew J. Rotherham reports on the U.S. News' Web site in an article, "What Matters Most in Measuring," that only half of African-American and Hispanic students finish high school on time.
Further, national assessments "show significant achievement gaps separating white students from black and Hispanic high school students," he wrote.
So, U.S. News took qualitative data such as disadvantaged and minority students' scores and weighted them heavily in their formula.
"(A great high school) must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes that show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators," Robert Morse of U.S. News wrote in "The Ranking Formula."
Scrutiny of demographic performance is a particularly grueling gauntlet for public schools to be put through.
"I can't say to any kid, "No you can't come here, we have selective enrollment.' We have open enrollment," Freehold High School Principal Linda Jewell said.
How can a public high school with open-door enrollment top a nationwide study that includes magnet schools?
"There is a philosophic commitment to meeting the needs, interests and abilities of every single kid that comes in here," Jewell said. "That should be the end-all-be-all by which schools are judged."
Joshua Riley: (732) 308-7751 or jriley@app.com
link to US News
www.usnews.com/directories/high-schools/index_html/state_id+NJ/page_number+1/page_size+10/sort+alpha/name+/award+/school_name+/county+Monmouth/detail+less
Freehold, High-Tech among nation's top high schools
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKINGS CONFIRMED
By Joshua Riley • EDUCATION WRITER • May 29, 2008
Read Comments(6)Recommend Print this page E-mail this article
Share this article: Del.icio.us Facebook Digg Reddit Newsvine What’s this?
FREEHOLD — Three dozen New Jersey schools have been named by U.S. News & World Report as some of the top 1,591 high schools in the nation, according to recently updated 2008 high school rankings.
The results were released in December 2007 and updated and confirmed on May 19.
The company awarded the top 505 schools gold or silver rankings and those ranked between 506 and 1,591 received the bronze recognition.
Five New Jersey schools ranked in the top 100, and 11 more in the top 505.
Out of 18,790 schools, High Technology High School, in the Lincroft section of Middletown, placed seventh and three others in the county ranked in the top 505.
Freehold High School is the only traditional public school in the county to receive silver recognition.
The analysis was based on 2005-2006 school year standardized test scores — the HSPA test in New Jersey — as well as the number of students who took the AP exams and the number of them who passed, according to the U.S. News Web site.
But, test scores differ between those with differing backgrounds, and thus paint only a part of the picture.
Andrew J. Rotherham reports on the U.S. News' Web site in an article, "What Matters Most in Measuring," that only half of African-American and Hispanic students finish high school on time.
Further, national assessments "show significant achievement gaps separating white students from black and Hispanic high school students," he wrote.
So, U.S. News took qualitative data such as disadvantaged and minority students' scores and weighted them heavily in their formula.
"(A great high school) must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes that show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators," Robert Morse of U.S. News wrote in "The Ranking Formula."
Scrutiny of demographic performance is a particularly grueling gauntlet for public schools to be put through.
"I can't say to any kid, "No you can't come here, we have selective enrollment.' We have open enrollment," Freehold High School Principal Linda Jewell said.
How can a public high school with open-door enrollment top a nationwide study that includes magnet schools?
"There is a philosophic commitment to meeting the needs, interests and abilities of every single kid that comes in here," Jewell said. "That should be the end-all-be-all by which schools are judged."
Joshua Riley: (732) 308-7751 or jriley@app.com
