More CPS High Schools Make US News List Than Newsweek [img=/assets/blog/200711/jerry_and_newman.jpg F:L]Seeking to get into the school rankings game, US News today announced its list of best high schools, which is based on different measures than the Newsweek "Challenge Index" that has been around for years now and is based almost exclusively on AP and IB participation. You can find the new US News list of the top 100 [url=http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/gold-medal-schools.html]here[/url] -- including all the usual suspects ([b]Payton, Lincoln Park, Jones, Northside[/b], etc.) For the rest of the schools on the list -- including [b]Brooks, Curie(!), Kenwood, Lakeview, Morgan Park, Noble Street[/b] -- you can look [url=http://www.usnews.com/directories/high-schools/index_html/state_id+IL/page_number+1/page_size+10/sort+alpha/name+/award+/school_name+/county+/detail+less/]here[/url]. Or go to http://www.usnews.com/directories/high-schools and click on Illinois.
Digg
Del.icio.us
Sat Dec 1, 2007 at 5:24 AM
More CPS High Schools Make US News List Than Newsweek
The "U.S. News" ratings are really the Standard & Poors ratings (McGraw Hill/Business Week, MGH).
Whether this is any better than the controversial (and equally silly) Jay Matthews/Newsweek (Washington Post/Kaplan, WPO) ratings should be discussed widely (along with whether any type of rating that excludes non-selective high schools is worth much at any rate).
The fact that two major players in test-based "school reform" insist that this is a reasonable way of viewing high schools' "performance" in the USA is a basic kind of locker room question that might only be possible in the strange world of American fetishes.
What does Illinois say when the majority of the "best" public high schools in Illinois are located in District 299 (Chicago)? I'm not going to spend much time on these silly lists, but a quick look tells me that Lincoln Park, Payton, Northside, Whitney Young, and Jones (all selective enrollment "college prep" high schools) are on the "top" nationally -- and (on my first pass of the data) only one other public high school in Illinois (Stevenson, in Lincolnshire) makes the list!
Does this mean that thousands of suburban families are going to rush (even in a bad real estate market) to sell their $2 million Winnetka homes and pick up a condo near Lincoln Park (or on the West Side, within walking distance of Whitney Young).
Anyone who wants to spend some time thinking about the racist distribution of resources in Chicago since Mayor Daley took over might also want to note that all of the Chicago "winners" (in the U.S. News "Top 100" list) are north of Roosevelt Road. And with 39th St. being the dividing line, that's something.
The two corporate approaches to ranking and sorting (McGraw Hill; WPO) may actually turn out to be a good thing, for the simple reason that they are so ridiculous. It's like "reading" War and Peace from the Cliffs Notes, or thinking that porn is about true love and family happiness.
These lists, upon examination, may show how ridiculous the entire notion is for public schooling.
You can rank and sort some things and not others. "Data driven management" may apply to the production of screws or automobile doors, or professional baseball teams and professional athletes. But to pretend to do so with public schools only adds to the goffiness that results.
Have Chicago and New York City proved the superiority of their high schools, both in relation to the rest of their state's high schools (although here New York State does much better than Illinois vis a vis its largest city) and in relation to other major cities (on a per capita basis)?
New York has always had its traditional selective enrollment powerhouses (Bronx High School of Science; Brooklyn Tech) as Alexander can check out (redommended long before another trip to KIPP). These New York schools pre-date corporate "school reform" (and for that matter, both "A Nation At Risk" and certainly "No Child Left Behind").
Chicago's selective enrollment magnet high schools have always been around (although it may be that Lane Tech is missing these lists for the simple reason of its massive size versus Northside, Payton, and Jones at least).
And it should be forbidden to hype these kinds of "winners" lists without doing some historical studies of what's been done to the general high schools during the same time period. Chicago is a living example of how certain approaches to "standards" (the selective enrollment high schools, and the unequal distribution of resources, most recently exemplified by the position closings in early October and Julian and a dozen other "leftover kid" high schools).
America festishizes these kinds of lists in a way that's lurid, and laughable.
It's kind of like the guys in high school who were always staring at the other guys during shower time. If you could measure success in that area with a ruler (some of them acted like they needed a yardstick), then the Cliifs Notes and grotesque oversimplifications were OK.
Like the Standard and Poors approach to educational ranking and sorting, however, those shower room measurements may have left behind more relevant information than they provided. The joke, ultimately, was on the guys who brought the rulers and did the measuring.
Whether this is any better than the controversial (and equally silly) Jay Matthews/Newsweek (Washington Post/Kaplan, WPO) ratings should be discussed widely (along with whether any type of rating that excludes non-selective high schools is worth much at any rate).
The fact that two major players in test-based "school reform" insist that this is a reasonable way of viewing high schools' "performance" in the USA is a basic kind of locker room question that might only be possible in the strange world of American fetishes.
What does Illinois say when the majority of the "best" public high schools in Illinois are located in District 299 (Chicago)? I'm not going to spend much time on these silly lists, but a quick look tells me that Lincoln Park, Payton, Northside, Whitney Young, and Jones (all selective enrollment "college prep" high schools) are on the "top" nationally -- and (on my first pass of the data) only one other public high school in Illinois (Stevenson, in Lincolnshire) makes the list!
Does this mean that thousands of suburban families are going to rush (even in a bad real estate market) to sell their $2 million Winnetka homes and pick up a condo near Lincoln Park (or on the West Side, within walking distance of Whitney Young).
Anyone who wants to spend some time thinking about the racist distribution of resources in Chicago since Mayor Daley took over might also want to note that all of the Chicago "winners" (in the U.S. News "Top 100" list) are north of Roosevelt Road. And with 39th St. being the dividing line, that's something.
The two corporate approaches to ranking and sorting (McGraw Hill; WPO) may actually turn out to be a good thing, for the simple reason that they are so ridiculous. It's like "reading" War and Peace from the Cliffs Notes, or thinking that porn is about true love and family happiness.
These lists, upon examination, may show how ridiculous the entire notion is for public schooling.
You can rank and sort some things and not others. "Data driven management" may apply to the production of screws or automobile doors, or professional baseball teams and professional athletes. But to pretend to do so with public schools only adds to the goffiness that results.
Have Chicago and New York City proved the superiority of their high schools, both in relation to the rest of their state's high schools (although here New York State does much better than Illinois vis a vis its largest city) and in relation to other major cities (on a per capita basis)?
New York has always had its traditional selective enrollment powerhouses (Bronx High School of Science; Brooklyn Tech) as Alexander can check out (redommended long before another trip to KIPP). These New York schools pre-date corporate "school reform" (and for that matter, both "A Nation At Risk" and certainly "No Child Left Behind").
Chicago's selective enrollment magnet high schools have always been around (although it may be that Lane Tech is missing these lists for the simple reason of its massive size versus Northside, Payton, and Jones at least).
And it should be forbidden to hype these kinds of "winners" lists without doing some historical studies of what's been done to the general high schools during the same time period. Chicago is a living example of how certain approaches to "standards" (the selective enrollment high schools, and the unequal distribution of resources, most recently exemplified by the position closings in early October and Julian and a dozen other "leftover kid" high schools).
America festishizes these kinds of lists in a way that's lurid, and laughable.
It's kind of like the guys in high school who were always staring at the other guys during shower time. If you could measure success in that area with a ruler (some of them acted like they needed a yardstick), then the Cliifs Notes and grotesque oversimplifications were OK.
Like the Standard and Poors approach to educational ranking and sorting, however, those shower room measurements may have left behind more relevant information than they provided. The joke, ultimately, was on the guys who brought the rulers and did the measuring.
Sat Dec 1, 2007 at 10:58 AM
More CPS High Schools Make US News List Than Newsweek
Please reconnect the here on the other schools where it starts with Brooks.
Sat Dec 1, 2007 at 12:09 PM
More CPS High Schools Make US News List Than Newsweek
sorry -- here is the correct link:
http://www.usnews.com/directories/high-schools/index_html/state_id+IL/page_number+1/page_size+10/sort+alpha/name+/award+/school_name+/county+/detail+less
http://www.usnews.com/directories/high-schools/index_html/state_id+IL/page_number+1/page_size+10/sort+alpha/name+/award+/school_name+/county+/detail+less
Sat Dec 1, 2007 at 4:01 PM
More CPS High Schools Make US News List Than Newsweek
It might be nitpicking, but Mr. Schmidt is incorrect when he refers to Lincoln Park HS as a selective enrollment school. The school does, in fact, have selective enrollment-type programs (IB, Double Honors, and Performing Arts), which attract students from all across the city. Still, Lincoln Park HS is not a selective enrollment high school. It is a neighborhood high school with a neighborhood high school attendance area, which serves to guarantee enrollment to any high school-aged student living within it.
Also, there's obvious flawed logic behind his trite supposition of suburban families rushing to the West Side, within walking distance of Whitney Young. Living across the street from Whitney Young, or any selective enrollment high school, doesn't increase the likelihood of enrollment there.
All things considered, there are many other public education issues deserving of the public's attention than these lists.
Also, there's obvious flawed logic behind his trite supposition of suburban families rushing to the West Side, within walking distance of Whitney Young. Living across the street from Whitney Young, or any selective enrollment high school, doesn't increase the likelihood of enrollment there.
All things considered, there are many other public education issues deserving of the public's attention than these lists.
Mon Dec 3, 2007 at 1:09 AM
More CPS High Schools Make US News List Than Newsweek
Pick nits all you want. What I'd like to know is the percentage of the community kids (non-selective) who get into the advanced classes. While Lincoln Park is a hybrid, if you check the trends, the number of poor and working class "community" students there has been declining in direct proportion to the increase in property values, as far south (now) as the edges of Cabrini Green (what's left of it). Where do the non-affluent "community" kids come from anymore with Cabrini gone? They certainly couldn't afford to move to Mohawk of one of the streets adjacent to Lincoln Park itself.
Lincoln Park serves a generally affluent student population. There is no way to compare Lincoln Park to, say, Schurz or Steinmetz (let alone Marshall or Manley) with a straight face. Don't even try.
If you're going to pick nits, try some facts first.
Lincoln Park serves a generally affluent student population. There is no way to compare Lincoln Park to, say, Schurz or Steinmetz (let alone Marshall or Manley) with a straight face. Don't even try.
If you're going to pick nits, try some facts first.
