9486 in the collection
Newsweek Rankings Boycott
Kudos to these superintendents for standing up to Newsweek's shallow rating of schools.
To the Editor,
The signers of this letter are school superintendents representing a cross section of districts, including some of the finest public schools in the nation. Many of our high schools have received top rankings in your annual edition of "Americas Best High Schools," as well as in numerous other publications. Others might never appear in such rankings, despite great achievements, because of challenges beyond the reach of your superficial approach to measuring quality.
Although some of our schools may seem to be the fortunate beneficiaries of your articles, we all believe that all schools, communities -- and your readers -- are poorly served by Newsweek's persistent efforts to use a single statistic, the number of students who sit for A.P. or I.B. exams, to rank schools.
The inventor of this flawed methodology, Jay Mathews, has insisted that it is meaningful because A.P. or I.B. participation is the sole available nation-wide measure of whether students take a rigorous program of study. He is right that there are few consistent measures of school quality, state-to-state, but that does not justify inappropriate use of the data that is available.
In reality, it is impossible to know which high schools are "the best" in the nation. Determining whether different schools do or don't offer a high quality of education requires a look at many different measures, including students' overall academic accomplishments and their subsequent performance in college, and taking into consideration the unique needs of their communities.
Students and school communities deserve better than simplistic and misleading school rankings, and that is why the signers of this letter will not respond to your request for our A.P. or I.B. test data. We respectfully insist that you omit our schools from your rankings, no matter how well we score, even if you already have our data, or obtain it in some other way.
Sincerely,
School Districts - Superintendents:
New York Schools:
Ardsley UFSD – Jason Friedman
Bedford CSD – Debra Jackson
Blind Brook-Rye Public Schools – Ronald D. Valenti
Brewster CSD – Jane Sandbank
Bronxville UFSD – David Quattrone
Byram Hills CSD – John Chambers
Chappaqua CSD – David Fleishman
Dobbs Ferry UFSD – Debra Kaplan
Edgemont UFSD – Nancy Taddiken
Greenburgh/North Castle UFSD – Robert Maher
Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools - Les Omotani
Katonah-Lewisboro UFSD – Robert Roelle
Mamaroneck UFSD – Paul Fried
Mt. Pleasant-Cottage School, UFSD – Norman Freimark
North Shore Schools – Ed Melnick
Ossining UFSD - Phyllis Glassman
Rye Neck UFSD – Peter Mustich
Scarsdale UFSD – Mike McGill
Spackenkill UFSD - Lois Colletta
Tuckahoe UFSD – Mike Yazurlo
Valhalla UFSD- Diane Ramos-Kelly
New Jersey Schools:
Montclair Schools - Frank Alvarez
Montgomery Schools - Sam Stewart
Tenafly Schools – Morton Sherman
Verona Public Schools – Earl Kim
Connecticut Schools:
Darien Schools – Don Fiftal
Simsbury Schools – Diane Ullman
Stonington Public Schools – Michael L. McKee
Wilton Public Schools - Gary Richards
Illinois Schools:
Decatur Public School District #61 – Gloria J. Davis
Deerfield/Highland Park Township HS District 113 – George V. Fornero
Evanston Township High School – Eric Witherspoon
Glenbrook High School District 225 - Dave Hales
Lincoln-Way High School District 210 – Lawrence A. Wylie
New Trier High School District 203 – Linda Yonke
Oak Park and River Forest High School - Attila J. Weninger
Massachusetts Schools:
Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools - Jere Hochman
Masconomet Regional School District - Claire Sheff Kohn
Wayland Schools – Gary Burton
Cc: The Editors of Time and US News and World Report
— school superintendents
letter to Newsweek
2008-04-02
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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