Ann Arbor Huron, Chelsea, Saline among 'America's best' high schools
Newsweek released its annual list of the 1,000 America's best high schools in the nation this week, ranking those that have proven they are the most effective in turning out college-ready graduates.
Three Washtenaw County districts — Ann Arbor Huron, Chelsea and Saline — made the top 700. Pioneer High School was snubbed from the list this year, although it has made the cut in the past. Saline has also been ranked among the top 1,000 high schools in the past.
Newsweek compared test scores and education quality at more than 2,300 schools by assessing the following data from the 2010-11 academic year:
- Four-year, on-time graduation rate (worth 25 percent toward overall ranking)
- Percent of 2011 grads accepted into college (25 percent)
- Advance placement/International Baccalaureate/American Institute for Creative Education tests per student (25 percent)
- Average SAT or ACT score (10 percent)
- Average AP/IB/AICE exam score (10 percent)
- AP/IB/AICE courses offered per student (5 percent)
Huron was ranked 576th in the nation and 14th in the state, out of 39 Michigan schools that qualified. Immediately following Huron in the state list was Chelsea High School, ranked 15th in the state and 593rd in the U.S.
Saline High School came it at No. 657 in the U.S. and 21st in the state.
The schools' scores were comparable. Both Huron and Saline had graduation rates of 94 percent, while Chelsea’s was 93. Saline outscored the other two in the ACT, with an average of 24.7. Huron students scored just slightly lower at a 24 average. Chelsea students had a 23.7 average.
Three districts in the Grand Rapids area and three in West Bloomfield also made the list, as well as high schools in Farmington, Novi, Walled Lake and Canton.
The highest ranking high school in Michigan was Bloomfield's International Academy at 49th.
View Newsweek's complete list here.
Staff reporter Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
AMOC
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 2 p.m.
I have no doubt that if Pioneer and Skyline had filled out the questionnaires, they too would have received similar rankings. However, if Washtenaw Technical Middle College had been included, I think they would have blown away the rest of Michigan, and possibly been in the top 25 high schools nationally. Given what Ann Arbor Public Schools spend on their students, vs. what is spent in Chelsea, Plymouth-Canton, Farmington, Novi, Grand Haven or East Grand Rapids, I have to agree with A2SchoolParent that these rankings reflect only modestly well on Ann Arbor Public Schools. It's easy to get good scores when you have a supportive, well-educated and relatively affluent population, and spend far above the average, even for a state that spends significantly above the national average per pupil on K-12 education. So yes, we're getting pretty good results. We are, like Lake Woebegone, a place where all the kids are above average. But are we getting the kind of results we should expect from the very generous expenditures Ann Arbor and Michigan as a whole are providing to our public education system? I don't think the value-for-money is there.
A2comments
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 11:04 a.m.
Based on the methodology, I would argue that this ranking isn't very meaningful as compared to other rankings. US News rankings is much more valid, not relying on administrators to self-report. US News also ranks colleges. http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/05/07/best-high-schools-methodology Newsweek's methodology. "To compile the 2012 list of the top high schools in America, Newsweek reached out to principals, superintendents and other administrators at public high schools across the country. In order to be considered for our list, a school had to complete a survey requesting specific data from the 2010-2011 academic year. In all, more than 2,300 schools were assessed to produce the final list of the top 1,000 schools. We ranked all respondents based on the following self-reported statistics from the 2010-2011 school year, listed along with their corresponding weight in our final calculation: Four-year, on-time graduation rate (25%): Based on the standards set forth by the National Governors Association, this rate is calculated by dividing the number of graduates in 2011 by the number of ninth graders in 2007, plus transfers in and minus transfers out. Unlike other formulas, this does not count students who took longer than four years to complete high school. We accepted 2010 graduation rates from districts that had not yet calculated their 2011 numbers."
BradP
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 10:20 p.m.
What's up, Dexter? Used to be you were on these lists.
garrisondyer
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 8:20 p.m.
I wonder: were any schools besides public schools ranked? Just curious.
garrisondyer
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 5:15 p.m.
Thanks, AMOC.
AMOC
Fri, May 25, 2012 : 4:29 p.m.
In a word, yes. Private and charter high schools that chose to participate were ranked by Newsweek. None of our local HS charters seem to have done so, and the newest 2 (WAY and the WISD IB program) are not eligible yet because they haven't been open long enough to graduate a class that started there.
a2schoolparent
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 4:34 p.m.
Among the 39 Michigan schools that Newsweek assessed, Huron is ranked 14th. Among the 2300 schools that Newsweek assessed nationwide, Huron is ranked 576th. In other words, Huron is among the top 25% high schools in the nation. I would say this is a very modest achievement.
a2schoolparent
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 5:16 p.m.
The "selection" procedure is described at Newsweek's website: in order to be considered, a school needs to fill out a questionnaire and provide the relevant information.
PeteM
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 5:03 p.m.
I know that there are many more than 39 high schools in Michigan, and according to this link there are over 15000 in the US: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070816080234AA5K5qt I presume that Newsweek looked at only a fraction of the schools based on some filtering mechanism. Regardless, 576 out more than 15000 is top four percent.
Will Warner
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 4:08 p.m.
Ann Arbor HURON you say. My my. Will Warner, River Rat, '70
Elijah Shalis
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 4:21 p.m.
Ann Arbor Huron, '98 here :) I think Huron got a Presidential award from George HW Bush to.
Rork Kuick
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 3:31 p.m.
I went to a top ten high school in northern VA, J.E.B. Stuart. It's rankings have since crashed. The explanation has nothing to do with the quality of the teachers, and everything to do with who the kids were.
Forever27
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 4:55 p.m.
think about how things like charter schools impact this.
Dog Guy
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 2:26 p.m.
Newsweek could have more efficiently ranked schools by area income and proximity to universities; Okemos is right up there.
Elijah Shalis
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 3:02 p.m.
Okemos lol They are a tax haven for people not wanting to put there kids in Lansing and their high school was built on a swamp. There is a reason Okemos didn't make the list Dog Guy.
braggslaw
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 3:02 p.m.
Many of the highest funded schools in Michigan are the worst performing. It has never been a school funding issue, it is a parenting issue.
Forever27
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 2:50 p.m.
if they ranked them by area income that would belie the fact that rich kids get better public educations than the poor; and we couldn't have that. I see your point though. some schools are able to do a pretty good job with their sparse resources. However, that does not mean that they are able to better prepare students for their futures than the better-funded schools.
Forever27
Thu, May 24, 2012 : 1:37 p.m.
this, ladies and gentlemen, is your tax dollars at work. Good to see our public schools holding their own, nationally.