Ranking of America high schools shown few surprises

U.S. News and World Report released its first ever Best High Schools list in America Friday.

Nearly 1,600 high schools, out of 18,500 analyzed in 40 states, met U.S. News' criteria for great high schools, based on 2005-06 test data. The top 100 schools were awarded "gold medals," followed by 405 silver medals and 1,086 bronze medals.

The following 10 states and the District of Columbia did not have sufficient data available for analysis: Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

U.S. News editor Brian Kelly said his magazine evaluated college readiness, as measured by state reading and math test results, and factored in the performance of low-income students - who tend to score lower on tests.

U.S. News also looked at whether black, Latino and low-income students were scoring higher than the statewide average for similar students. Finally, the schools were rated on their AP test participation rate and how high students scored on AP tests.

The result is a more complete picture of education than the Newsweek list, Kelly maintained.

Paul Gazzerro, the lead analyst for the project, said the method requires schools to do more than Newsweek's to be recognized. The methodology was developed by School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education data research business run by Standard & Poor's.

Kelly said that it's important to measure schools based on how all students are doing, not just the high achievers.

"To be a very good school performing at a very good level is not enough," Kelly said. "We're looking at schools that are exceeding expectations."

Kelly stressed that it didn't mean a school is bad if it didn't receive an award from the magazine. But Gazzerro said it could show that a school's disadvantaged students are "falling through the cracks."

However, 20% of schools on the list are selective.