The Top 100 High Schools in America

This week, Newsweek magazine released its annual list of what it claims are the top 100 high schools in America.  These rankings are determined by dividing the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 by the number of graduating seniors at that same school.

You could argue that this ranking system favors rich schools, magnet schools, or special gifted & talented schools, and indeed many of the schools near the top of the list have names like “Academic Magnet High School” and “Science/Engineering Magnet School,” although some surprising schools from higher-poverty areas made the list as well.  But that’s a debate for a different post.

Here’s the thing that struck me about the list of these 100 high-achieving schools:  21 of them failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2006 according to No Child Left Behind.

Let that sink in for a minute: 21% of the very best schools in America failed to make AYP. 

Let’s compare that to the general population: for the 2005-2006 school year, a total of just 25.8% of all public schools failed to make AYP. 

If the highest-achieving high schools in America fail to make AYP at nearly the same rate as everyone else, can we finally all agree that AYP, as it is currently measured, is meaningless?

Competition in the Classroom

Competition in the classroom has unfairly been stigmatized by many educators, to the point where many of us absolutely refuse to introduce anything competitive into our school year.  Some districts have even cancelled spelling bees, quit naming valedictorians, and stopped announcing honor rolls due to concerns about the possible detrimental affects of such practices.  Grade inflation – another way to eliminate competition - runs rampant as well.

Schools that aren’t entirely eliminating competition are trying to make it so everyone wins: “According to the dean of admissions at one California college, some high schools are honoring as many as 50 to 100 ‘valedictorians.’ “ 

As Michael Crowley pointedly notes, “No more honor rolls, valedictorians, letter grades — how long before schools start to ban simple games like tag? Oh, wait: That happened at a Santa Monica, California, school just a couple of years ago. ‘In this game, there is a ‘victim,’ or ‘It,’ which creates a self-esteem issue,’ the principal explained in a newsletter to parents.”

It’s time for us to move past this extreme fear of competition in our schools, back to a balanced view where healthy competition can be one tool in the teacher’s arsenal.  We should teach students how to win and lose gracefully and help them to develop some tenacity to overcome obstacles that appear in their way. 

Our students will face losing many times in the real world: a job offer that goes to someone else, a scholarship they don’t win, or a promotion they don’t receive.  Will we have the courage to help these future losers to become resilient when faced with adversity?  Or, by eliminating competition entirely, will we teach them that losing is something so dreadful that it must be avoided at all costs?