May 19, 2008Good news for a Roanoke high schoolThe annual Newsweek and Washington Post challenge index that measures how well public high schools challenge students found 83 of the 1,300 top-ranking schools were in Virginia. |
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May 19, 2008
Good news for a Roanoke high school
The annual Newsweek and Washington Post challenge index that measures how well public high schools challenge students found 83 of the 1,300 top-ranking schools were in Virginia.
The one standout in our area is Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke. This is finally some good news for a system that has lately been known more for its failures than its successes.
Comments
[May 20, 2008 9:47 AM]
JoshHate to burst your bubble, but a high ranking on this index isn't necessarily good. Red flags went up when I saw who sponsored this survey, and sure enough a high ranking rewards large schools with low graduation rates, like Patrick Henry.
Liberal yardsticks usually measure good intentions rather than actual achievement. Index rankings were determined by dividing the number of AP and other tests TAKEN (nothing about scores) by all students then dividing by the number of graduating seniors. The lower the graduation rate, the higher the ranking on the Index.
Sounds like Newsweek and the Post wanted to spin the underachievement of urban public schools. Gee, if the PH graduation rate falls below 50%, it might make the Challenge(d) Index top ten.