Madison high schools don't make U.S. News rankings

Matthew DeFour:

U.S. News and World Report this week released its list of the top high schools in the country and in each state, but Madison's four high schools didn't make the cut.

That's because under the three-step formula the magazine used to rate high schools, the combined test scores of black, Hispanic and low-income students at East, La Follette, Memorial and West were too low to qualify the schools for recognition.

It's the fourth time the magazine, known for its annual rankings of college and graduate schools, has ranked high schools and the first time since December 2009. The magazine worked with the American Institutes for Research to develop the ranking system.

The magazine reviewed reading and math test scores for nearly 22,000 high schools in the country. Of that number, only 5,267 high schools, including the four in Madison, advanced to step two of the analysis. That means math and reading test scores exceeded expectations among other high schools in the state given the level of poverty in each school.

But Madison's schools appear to have faltered in the second step of the analysis, which compares a weighted average of math and reading scores for each school's "disadvantaged students" -- i.e. black, Hispanic and low-income students -- with the same group statewide.

In 2011-12, 53.5 percent of Wisconsin's disadvantaged students scored proficient or advanced on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination, compared with about 47 percent at each of the four Madison high schools.

The WKCE has long been criticized for its lack of rigor. Background: Ouch! Madison schools are 'weak'? and College Station's School District

Related: www.wisconsin2.org

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 9, 2012 8:57 PM
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