How does schooldigger rank schools

Full disclosure: I have partnered with GreatSchools staff for research in the past and found them—without exception—thoughtful, smart, and well-intentioned. These sites differ in their data sources, methodologies, and which characteristics of schools they purport to evaluate. They also differ in their transparency, leaving unanswered questions about how several of the sites calculate their ratings. This lack of transparency is not surprising—or perhaps even inappropriate—given that some of these ratings are the core products of for-profit companies.

What is clear, however, is that there is considerable demand for ratings as families make judgments about schools. This adds yet more complexity to one of the most difficult, contested questions that has confronted state policymakers working on ESSA plans: whether to create ratings for individual schools. See EdWeek and The 74 for nice overviews. I have argued that summative school ratings are unavoidably reductive and flawed, incapable of doing justice to the rich, multifaceted work of schools—and yet we still have to weigh their problems against the challenges that arise in their absence.

In this case, if states decline to develop school ratings through a democratic process, third-party providers will happily fill that void with the only ratings that parents might find. We should worry whether the purveyors of these nationwide ratings have the expertise, perspective, and incentive to produce sensible ratings.

As you can see, depending on the ranking method the website uses, the results can be very different. Rankings derived from systems built on test scores can also be quite biased based on the kinds of students the school serves. Glass performed an analysis of the top rated schools on Colorado School Grades and found that the highest rated schools averaged Literally decades of research tells us that socio-economically advantaged children tend to score higher on standardized tests.

We also know that out-of-school factors are by far the largest determinants of test score results. Academic tests measure important concepts for our kids. But they also must be put into context in that they capture both the positive and negative impacts of student backgrounds and environments.

We must also acknowledge that these tests measure a very narrow set of the skills we ultimately want for our children. These ranking websites use data from the testing cycle and reflect outcomes from before our district embarked on its current strategic direction. Students experience education through a variety of projects and learning tools, including home-school partnerships, vocational programs, and theme-based learning.

Except for math, North Star students choose their courses to fulfill the required number of credits for each discipline, so that students are taking an in-depth course on something of interest to them instead of a survey course which lightly touches on a broad range of topics. It is much like a college curriculum. Middlesex Middle School serves grades 6 through 8. Students follow a typical curriculum, but in addition have an orchestra class, as well as band and choir. Students may try out for various musical ensemble groups, including a jazz ensemble and a string ensemble.

These classes, which are for intellectually gifted students and use the seminar approach, meet during lunch period twice a week. Examples of subjects studied include the phenomenon of time 7th graders and the works of philosophers such as Plato and Machiavelli 8th graders.

Students study keyboarding, computer skills, and technology classes; they are also required to take a physical education class. Additionally, students in 7th and 8th grade take a Family Studies course focusing on healthy living. Harmon Middle School serves students in grades 6 though 8. The Harmon athletic department offers participation in 20 sports plus cheerleading. Harmon has a P. These forms are due two weeks after report cards are distributed. Students must get verification of one hour of community service, volunteering to help a faculty member, and completing all assignments, as well as other personal academic achievements.

The Harmon School District has been rated by the State Board of Education as a district of excellence for the past 12 years. Additionally, students may take health, a variety of music classes, art, and physical education.

Swimming, lacrosse, hockey, football, and volleyball are just some of the team sports in which students can participate in athletics. For after-school fun, students can sign up for sledding, snow shoeing, Nordic skiing, snow sculpture, ping pong, and relay races, among other activities. For this study, the National Assessment of Educational Progress NAEP results in science, math, and reading for 8th graders were used as a principal but not the sole basis for comparison of schools.

The NAEP administers the same test nationally so that one standard is applied to each student no matter which state they live in. In the case of other common standardized test assessments, each state creates and administers its own tests, which makes cross-state comparisons difficult.

That is the reason why we emphasize the NAEP. However, state assessment scores were also examined, where available, and weighed together with the NAEP scores. Finally, other factors such as awards and rankings and geographical diversity were also taken into account. Are you ready to discover your college program?

Popular with our students. Highly informative resources to keep your education journey on track.