Magazine lists MdCV among the best
School receives a bronze ranking
February 11, 2008
Marais des Cygnes Valley High School is one of 39 Kansas schools who received national recognition in U.S. News & World Report's "ranking of America's Best Schools." This distinction has also been duly noted on the front page of the February 1, 2008, issue of the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) Review newsletter.
Using a three-step analysis, developed in collaboration with School Evaluation Services (SES), the extensive study examined data from 18,790 high schools in 40 states, resulting in 100 schools categorized as "gold medal" schools, 405 as "silver medal" schools, and 1,068 as "bronze medal" schools. Marais des Cygnes Valley High School was among the 1,068 bronze designees, along with 37 other schools in Kansas. One Kansas school -- Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park -- was a silver medal school.
The analysis did not include all states for two reasons: they either did not make test data available, or the data they did provide was insufficient to complete an analysis. As a result, these entities were not included in the report: Alabama, Alaska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, and Washington D.C.
U.S. News & World Report contrasts its ranking of schools from Newsweek magazine's listing of "best" high schools by the type of data used to measure success. Newsweek's determination, according to U.S. News & World Report, is based exclusively on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests, or how well the best students perform on tests. U.S News & World Report chose to measure success of the entire student body, not just the ones who are most successful. To accomplish this, the first step of their analysis examines data from the 2005-2006 state assessments, and the second step evaluates how well the school's economically disadvantaged students performed on those state tests.
The third step in the report is what distinguishes the bronze medal schools from the gold and silver medal schools. The third step creates a "college-readiness index," by measuring the number of 12th grade participants and the extent of their successful achievement on Advanced Placement (AP) tests. If a school does not offer AP, or does not attain a college readiness index of at least 20, then this factor is not applicable in the "best high school" formula. However, successfully meeting the first two factors -- state assessment achievement and the success of disadvantaged students -- does qualify a school for bronze status.
The complete listing of gold, silver and bronze medal schools, along with profiles of each, may be viewed at the U.S. News & World Report website listed at the bottom of this article.
