Ranking schools

A recent article on the National Association of Secondary School Principals website about ranking schools had an interesting thought embedded discretely within the text. The article itself was about how the ranking of schools by various publications was not something that was necessarily fair for all schools.

The argument was that magnet or charter schools that have an application process and do not take everyone that comes in their doors had an unfair advantage in the rankings since they could gear their acceptance to students with higher academic ability and background. Another index seemed to focus on larger schools that had the ability to offer Advanced Placement courses or International Baccalaureate courses.

Toward the end of the article, however, the executive director of NASSP mentioned something about developing "a national barometer" to rank schools on a national level. Now, I'm not sure about the national level, but at Guernsey-Sunrise, we are developing indicators to help us determine where we are at in relation to helping our students be successful.

It is easy to look at test scores from a one-time test and make a judgment as to whether a school is successful. But student success goes beyond one test on one particular day. I agree that test scores are a big component, but looking at multiple indicators provides a more well-rounded picture of the school and helps to determine a direction for school improvement. If you have some thoughts on what indicators the district might use, drop us a note or a comment.