New York School Rankings Plummet

U.S. New Report indicated in their 2016 ratings of best high schools, New York’s high schools have plummeted in ratings terribly!  Districts, such as Stuyvesant, which used to be #1 is now at #89, Jericho is at #91 and Rockville Centre is at #109. Long Island schools aren’t even in the top 50 anymore.

The article, “Did U.S. News Use the Wrong Data In its 2015 ‘Best High School Rankings’?”, by Valerie Strauss, 3 educators in New York State have found mistakes in that 2015 school rankings, published by U.S. News & World Report.  The three, Principal Carol Burris, Principal Sean Feeney, and Assistant Principal John Murphy, feel that, “the data technicians used the wrong state data to evaluate New York schools for proficiency because they did not understand or ignored how high-school proficiency in English Language Arts and mathematics was determined in New York State.” U.S. News denies any mistakes, on their part and states that the educators were just upset because the “…methodology for the high school rankings changed.”

There is much factual evidence that New York has some of the most outstanding schools.  Case in point, “Burris is the principal of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York…was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and was tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.”  Additionally, “John Murphy is the assistant principal  of South Side High School… has won numerous recognitions for his teaching and leadership of the school’s International Baccalaureate program.” And finally, “Sean Feeney is the principal of The Wheatley School in Old Westbury, New York. He  is also the president of the Nassau County High School Principals Association.  Sean has a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Columbia University.  In 2011, Sean and Carol co-authored the Principals Letter on APPR.”

When U.S. News complied their ratings, they ONLY looked at AP or IB examinations.  “U.S. News & World Report says that it seeks to identify ‘the country’s top-performing public high schools.’  Furthermore, it states, “The goal is to provide a clear, unbiased picture of how well public schools serve all of their students – from the highest achieving to the lowest achieving – in preparing them to demonstrate proficiency in basic skills as well as readiness for college-level work.” In rebuttal, New York educators felt that, “…the data technicians used the wrong state data to evaluate New York schools for proficiency, because they did not understand or ignored how high-school proficiency in English Language Arts and mathematics was determined in New York State.”

Since 2009, Many of our Long Island schools have been “…recognized with “Gold Medal” status on the U.S. News list. This year, however, despite strong performance on all measures, our schools did not earn any ranking.”Numerous errors were found with U.S. News data, and emails were forwarded to the with no reply back. “So what happened? This year, U.S. News switched vendors from The American Institute for Research (AIR) to a North Carolina firm called RTI International.”  It seems the type of math calculations that RTI used created numerous errors which in turn lowered the factual data of the rankings.

“There is a very big lesson to learn from this, however.  We place far too much trust and emphasis on big data.”  This kind of information has a huge impact on people’s choices of areas they choose to live in,  and which colleges and universities they will go to.  Additionally, once these errors were found, the lack of response on behalf of U.S. News was negligent and intolerable. They were willing to respond to the article when they felt they were in the right but as soon as any factual evidence came up showing that these rankings were incorrect, they neglected to respond to any communications.