Several North Shore schools placed near the top of Newsweek’s 2013 rankings of the top high schools in the country, which were released on Newsweek’s sister Web site the Daily Beast this week.
The rankings, which evaluate schools based on graduation rate, standardized test scores and student participation in advanced classes, saw local schools place between 67 and 256 of the nearly 2,500 schools that participated. Administrators interviewed by Blank Slate media touted their highly ranked schools, while stating that Newsweek’s scoring system does not capture the full performance of the schools it ranks.
Great Neck South High School ranked 67, Manhasset 75, Wheatley 92, Herricks 177, Great Neck North took 181 and New Hyde Park Memorial 256. The data for the rankings are self-reported by schools, and Roslyn Public Schools did not apply for the ranking.
“We’re thrilled at the performance of both of our very different high schools and celebrate their academic successes along with the many other programs that they are famous for,” said Great Neck Public Schools Superintendent Tom Dolan.
Dolan cautioned that the list only captures a small portion of what schools offer, but said the administration would consider the data in weighing improvements to its schools.
“It is a single dimension measurement but it does offer useful data for us to commend South High School for their success in this area and to look at North High School and ask of there is more that we can do there,” Dolan said. “We constantly look at data and we will spend the summer looking at the data to see how prescriptive it is. And if we can use it, we will.”
Manhasset Superintendent Charles Cardillo echoed Dolan’s sentiments, praising his school’s performance in Newsweeks ranking as well as lists by the Washington Post and U.S. News and World Report but adding that the administration does not read too much the results.
“There are so many great high schools on Long Island and this year we were fortunate enough to be given the ranking in all three publications. We’re very proud of the accomplishments our students achieved to get into the national rankings, but there’s so many other factors that go into other schools that reflect what our high school and other great high schools are doing across Long Island,” Cardillo said. “We’ve never tried to make more of it than it is – they’re in the publication business, we’re in the education business and it’s good for what it’s worth. We’ve consistently said it, we’re one of the best schools in America and the rankings reflect it, but if we don’t get into the rankings, we don’t put too much thought into it. It validates that we have a great student body with parents that really care and a teaching staff that really works diligently with our students.”
A spokesperson for the Roslyn school district referred Blank Slate Media to a statement issued by Roslyn Superintendent of Schools Dan Brenner in 2010 explaining why Roslyn chose not to participate in the Washington Post’s Challenge Index, a similar ranking that is based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given by schools each year.
“Even though Roslyn High School has always compared favorably with other public high schools on the list, I feel strongly that a ranking system by its very nature is detrimental to the stated goal of helping the public to understand how schools and their students are performing,” Brenner said. “It is simply not possible to paint an accurate and complete picture of any school based on a few select indicators, let alone just one. The ranking inevitably leads readers to false and essentially meaningless comparisons, and confuses what is important in education with what merely attracts attention.”
Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said his high school’s 177 national ranking does not tell the full story, and that scoring charter and open-enrollment public schools could be misleading.
“I’d like to be higher, but it’s a good rating,” Bierwirth said. “I think it would be useful if they would separate types of schools.”
“If you’re measure across states, there’s not common information,” Bierwirth added. “It’s very hard to compare apples to apples.”
Sewanhaka Superintendent Ralph Ferrie praised the performance of New Hyde Park Memorial High School, which is part of the Sewanhaka School District.
“The school does a really good job so it’s certainly a tribute to the teachers in the building and the school administration,” Ferrie said. “[New Hyde Park] historically has done very well. Historically it’s a very good high school and the elementary district does an excellent job.”
The Newsweek list is one of three major national high school rankings, along with evaluations by the Washington Post and US News & World Report.
Richard Tedesco and Bill San Antonio contributed to this article.
