Mt. Greylock among top 3% of U.S. high-schools on "college readiness," survey finds

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- US News & World Report has listed Mount Greylock Regional High School among those earning a "silver medal" in a national survey of "college readiness" of its students, judging it to be among the 500 best -- or top 3% -- of the nation's 18,000 high schools.

Supt. William Travis passed along the news in an email to parents and faculty late today. He said, "It is with great pleasure that I pass along information contained in today's on-line US News & World Report."

The online edition of the national magazine engaged a private evaluation firm to rate the nation's high schools on a variety of criteria with weightings based on things like enrollment size, minority enrollment, level of poverty, disadvantaged students to give different schools a fair shake. And it look at things like advanced-placement course participation rates, and a "college-readiness index."

The Mount Greylock report can be found at: http://www.usnews.com/listings/high-schools/massachusetts/mt_greylock_regional_high

Travis continued: "This is a real recognition of all the support provided by parents, the member communities, the staff and faculty of Mount Greylock.  Thanks to all for the consistent support.

The report states: "U.S. News & World Report -- in collaboration with School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education and data researchand analysis business that provides parents with education data on schoolmatters.com -- analyzed academic andenrollment data from more than 18,000 public high schools to find the very best across the country. These top schools were placed into gold, silver, or bronze medal categories."

The magazine's criteria for "medals":

Gold Medal -- Top 100 schools nationally based on College Readiness Index

Silver Medal -- All other schools with a college-readiness index of at least 20, but that are not in the top 100 nationally. MGRH's "readiness rank" was 49.

Bronze Medal -- Either do not offer AP, or do not achieve a college readiness index of at least 20, but successfully meet other two key performance indicator criteria.

MORE: America's Best High Schools - US News and World Report URL:
http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/americas-best-high-schools.html

Comments

[Nicholas H. Wright]

    We knew already that MGRHS was doing a great job with college preparation, so the recent announcement of high standing in the US News and World Report's ranking system is not terribly informative.
    At a more specific level, it is difficult to know what the anking means, since the weights attached to the various criteria cited are not explicit, and we do not know how many institutions simply decided not to disclose any information. These types of issues make interpretation, at best, unreliable.
    I tend to feel that the real problem with these ratings is the sense of complacency, even arrogance they may foster. Both are inimical to a healthy educational environment. The risks to the educational environment may well outweigh any possible real gain, and I would have MGRHS not submit data to the US News and World Report in the next survey cycle. I understand that some colleges and universities have stopped participating in these surveys, perhaps for similar reasons.
   
Sincerely yours,
    Nicholas H.Wright
   (T) 458-5841
   (E) wrightnh@adelphia.net