3 Austin-area schools make Newsweek's top 100 (Spring, Pflugerville: magnet schools, safety, activities)

[jobert]

America's Best High Schools - Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/content/newsweek/feature/2011/americas-best-high-schools.html - broken link)

#21 LASA (East Austin)
#47 Westwood (NW AUstin)
#72 Westlake (West Austin)


others in the top 500:

#144 Harmony (Pflugerville)
#361 Dripping Springs
#474 Anderson (NW Austin)
#488 Lake Travis (West Austin)

Congrats to the students who helped achieve this distinction!

(now feel free to question the methodology and ranking criteria.)

[kalkeats]

Thanks! Good information to have as many people knock Texas schools!

[passionatearts]

Oh no - not this joke of a list again! Newsweek's flawed methodology is largely based around how many AP/IB tests and courses were administered at a school, which is not a be-all-end-all measurement for the quality of a school. Things like programs for special needs student, extra curricular activities, diversity and safety were not taken into account. Also, is it really fair to compare magnet schools to regular public schools? I don't think so.

But perhaps the biggest flaw of this list is that its ranking come from a self-selecting survey. This means that only schools that completed Newsweek's survey actually get considered for ranking, which definitely makes me question the objectivity of the list.

[texastrigirl]

Actually they added several other criteria and now AP/IB is only 10% of the equation. But you are right that it is self selecting and therefore is not a complete listing.