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Old 05-22-2012, 04:17 PM
 
16,087 posts, read 41,060,528 times
Reputation: 6374

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Top National Schools Get Challenge Index Scores - The Washington Post

Quote:
The index score is the number of college-level tests given at a school in 2011 divided by the number of graduates that year. Also noted are the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for lunch subsidies (Subs. lunch) and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career, called equity and excellence, (E&E). A (P) next to the school's name denotes a private school.
#3 SEM (DISD)
#6 TAG (DISD)
#24 North Hills Prep *
#29 Summit Prep
#34 Peak Prep
#36 Westlake Academy
#41 Hampton Prep
#69 Williams Prep
#87 Highland Park
#92 Rangel Women's (DISD)
#94 Sanders Law (DISD)
#109 Booker T. Washington (DISD)
#140 Health Professions (DISD)
#166 Business and Management (DISD)
#197 Colleyville Heritage
#278 W.T. White (DISD)
#290 J. J. Pearce
#300 McKinney
#303 Grapevine
#313 Fort Worth Paschal
#330 McKinney North
#395 Plano West
#431 Woodrow Wilson (DISD) *
#556 Hillcrest (DISD)
#611 McKinney Boyd
#621 R. L. Turner
#689 Plano
#697 Allen *
#700 FW Arlington Heights
#815 Denton Guyer
#843 Harmony Science Academy
#873 Frisco
#1021 Frisco Liberty
#1069 FM Marcus
#1099 Newman Smith
#1132 Berkner
#1156 Birdville
#1157 Keller
#1254 Creekview
#1370 Trinity *

* Offers AP classes and IB Diploma Programme

Last edited by BstYet2Be; 05-24-2012 at 03:05 AM.. Reason: Title chng'd to better reflect subject
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Old 05-22-2012, 05:20 PM
 
56 posts, read 76,511 times
Reputation: 61
Just participation not passing and scoring high like Newsweek does? What kind of challenge is that? Enrollment fee fundraiser?
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Old 05-22-2012, 05:38 PM
 
16,087 posts, read 41,060,528 times
Reputation: 6374
ABCs of The High School Challenge - The Washington Post

Quote:
2. Why do you count only the number of tests given, and not how well the students do on the tests?

Some schools brag about their high passing rates on AP or IB, meaning the percentage of test-takers who scored 3, 4 or 5 on the 5-point AP exam or 4, 5, 6 or 7 on the 7-point IB exam. Passing scores make students eligible for credit at many colleges and universities.

I decided not to count passing rates in this way because I found that most high schools kept those rates artificially high by allowing only top students to take the courses. In other instances, they opened the courses to all but encouraged only the best students to take the tests.

AP, IB and AICE are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations. Research has found that even low-performing students who got only a 2 on an AP test did significantly better in college than similar students who did not take AP
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Old 05-22-2012, 05:43 PM
 
19,563 posts, read 17,837,171 times
Reputation: 17094
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lakewooder View Post
ABCs of The High School Challenge - The Washington Post

"2. Why do you count only the number of tests given, and not how well the students do on the tests?

Some schools brag about their high passing rates on AP or IB, meaning the percentage of test-takers who scored 3, 4 or 5 on the 5-point AP exam or 4, 5, 6 or 7 on the 7-point IB exam. Passing scores make students eligible for credit at many colleges and universities.

I decided not to count passing rates in this way because I found that most high schools kept those rates artificially high by allowing only top students to take the courses. In other instances, they opened the courses to all but encouraged only the best students to take the tests.

AP, IB and AICE are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations. Research has found that even low-performing students who got only a 2 on an AP test did significantly better in college than similar students who did not take AP"
That's so stupid I can't feel my legs!

He titles this thing to make it look like he is rewarding the most challenging schools and then goes out of his way to make sure he rewards other than the most challenging schools.

How else could WT White rank far above Plano West?


Total garbage. A better title would be "Trying Hard to Make Middling Schools Look Better Than Really Challenging Schools".
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Old 05-22-2012, 05:45 PM
 
56 posts, read 76,511 times
Reputation: 61
Yeah something is better than nothing. We should applaud these schools for participating and trying. Moderator cut: orphaned

Last edited by BstYet2Be; 05-24-2012 at 03:09 AM..
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Old 05-22-2012, 06:06 PM
 
109 posts, read 160,211 times
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We need to raise standards of high school learning instead of pushing every student to take college courses that are way above their heads. Aren't teen age suicide rates high enough?

Last edited by Warnpeace; 05-22-2012 at 07:01 PM..
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Old 05-22-2012, 06:30 PM
 
291 posts, read 672,928 times
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Back in the day when I was in high school, I took lots of AP classes my junior and senior year (Calculus, Spanish, English, History, etc) but didn't take any of the actual AP tests for a couple of reasons. First, my college had no math or science requirements and so it was pointless for me to pay money to take AP tests for college credits which would not apply to me. Second, I frankly didn't want to pay any money for tests. Taking the SATs was enough test taking for me!
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Old 05-22-2012, 06:39 PM
 
2,973 posts, read 9,455,826 times
Reputation: 1551
Well...at SEM and TAG the only classes are AP classes...and everyone takes their exams. It's a waste to take the class and not take the exam.
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Old 05-22-2012, 06:43 PM
 
350 posts, read 747,219 times
Reputation: 309
Yes, this used to be the modus operandi of high school rankings, but became so unpopular and controversial that both Newsweek (which created this method, the "challenge index") and US News have abandoned it. From my perspective as a student, this is utter trash, seeing as a school fails student by not placing them in an appropriately difficult course. AP courses are less than equal across high schools, and just because a class has the AP label does not guarantee it is a "challenge". Essentially, what Jay Mathews (who created the method) wants to measure in his list is almost impossible to indicate. Of course, if a school has an incredibly low passing rate (Ie. DISD Rangell and Sanders), it is most likely that their courses are not "challenging" enough, but otherwise, it's hard to know how rigorous an AP course really is.

On an amusing side note, I have friends who left Plano West to go to Booker T, and were astonished by the lack of rigor in their non-arts AP/Honors courses. Nonetheless, WaPo informs us that Booker T is much more "Challenging"

Thankfully, the new rankings by US News and Newsweek are an improvement! Newsweek goes so far as to take into account factors besides test scores, while US News is actually measuring the quality of teaching in high schools, through its use of what ostensibly are AP pass rates. I suppose you/the magazines have to do something wrong the first time in order to get it right later...oh well.

Last edited by PISDstudent; 05-22-2012 at 06:54 PM..
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Old 05-22-2012, 06:48 PM
 
350 posts, read 747,219 times
Reputation: 309
Quote:
Originally Posted by pepper131 View Post
It's a waste to take the class and not take the exam.
For the most part I agree with you, but many top tier schools won't take all AP courses for credit. For example, this year (I'm a junior) I took AP Comparative Government and Politics. The juniors chose to take the exam, but many of the seniors who knew their college wouldn't accept credit didn't want to pay $87. Additionally, some people already maxed out on AP credit, making further exams useless. However, Juniors universally took their AP exams (although it's not required at PWSH), to get the credit.

Of course, their is the GPA boost from AP courses on a weighted system, and their is intrinsic value in being in a challenging course. Some AP subject areas are really quite fascinating.
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