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Posted on Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 5:06 p.m.

Saline, Huron, Pioneer high schools listed among tops in nation

By David Jesse

Three Washtenaw County high schools made Newsweek’s America’s Best High Schools annual list.

Saline, Huron and Pioneer high schools were among the schools listed in the annual report, which uses a formula based on academic results. It includes the number of students taking and passing advanced placement tests. 

All three of those high schools have been on the list in previous years.

Saline ranked the highest among county schools, finishing 13th in the state and 1,073 overall.

“We’re very proud of our school,” Saline Superintendent Scot Graden said. “It’s a testament to our students and staff. Most of the students who come through our system arrive at high school well-prepared to deal with the increasing rigor. Our staff does a great job of pushing them to be even better.”

Huron was ranked 1,166 in the nation and Pioneer was ranked 1,290.

“We are very proud of all the high schools in the Ann Arbor district,” district spokeswoman Liz Margolis said. “Having Huron and Pioneer listed again in Newsweek is a tribute to the teachers and students at these schools who value and expect not only an exceptional education but a diverse and respectful learning environment.”

David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.

Comments

mike from saline

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 : 12:42 a.m.

@shankar I don't have a lot of Patience with people who can't read. Go back and read what I actually said [little hint, it's not what you quoted], and get back with me if you have a real question!! I never mentioned Saline High Schools Rank, period. I was responding to comments made By SottyBoy. You might want to go back and read his comment, and maybe you can figure it out! I stand by EVERYTHING I said! One more thing...Salines MEAP scores are always among the highest in the area, and have been for decades!!

Shankar

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 : 9:10 p.m.

@Mike from Saline... I am surprised that you think that the ethnic diversity at Saline schools has nothing to do with these ranks... I checked the Newsweek site to see where Saline ranked prior to this year... They only go back to 2006, Saline was not in the ranking prior to 2008... I would like to see MEAP scores for Saline schools prior to 1998, when new subdivisions opened up and new families of all ethnicity started moving into Saline area..

mike from saline

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 : 7:29 p.m.

@Shankar The answere to your 1st question. No 2nd question, Saline has always been a great school system. Has been since I moved here 35 years ago. As for its diversity. Thats been about the same for the last 20-25 years.

Shankar

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 : 2:22 p.m.

@ Mike from Saline... so.. you do not believe that the rich diversity at Saline HS & Pioneer has anything to do with this high ranking? Where was Saline high ranked 6-7 years ago?

mike from saline

Fri, Jun 18, 2010 : 4:20 p.m.

Note to Ghost. Please give examples of teacher bashing. I've read all the comments, and didn't see one.

mike from saline

Fri, Jun 18, 2010 : 4:14 p.m.

Note to ScottyBoy. There is no evidence that diversity adds to, or subtracts from ones educational experience. Diversity is a political concept. Most people could care less about diversity, because they don't feel that it is important. the reason they don't feel it's important is because it's not important.

Tony Livingston

Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 8:39 a.m.

Basic Bob -- My guess is that AAPS protects CHS because it is very popular. 3 times more students apply than can get in. The trend in schools is towards smaller, more personal communities where students know each other and they know the teachers and staff. That is why charter schools and Ann Arbor Open School are thriving. It is not all about academics or extra curriculars. People want a positive school experience and the large schools don't offer that for a lot of kids. You may think that Pioneer and Huron are great schools, but what is great for one is not necessarily great for another. Parents with socially, emotionally, or academically vulnerable children do not want to send them to large anonymous schools.

Basic Bob

Thu, Jun 17, 2010 : 3:43 a.m.

@Freemind42, "For all the financially minded people out there, that is the number 1 driving force behind home values." I disagree. My home lost 40% of its value = potential sales price. That has nothing to do with the schools. And given the current economic reality, most of us look for ways to save money. AAPS protects CHS in spite of the excess capacity at the high school level, and in spite of the excellence of Huron, Pioneer, and Skyline. For the financially blinded out there, more buildings = more money.

AlphaAlpha

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 8:13 p.m.

Update...this just in...(where is Edward the news guy?)... These rankings do not measure student performance in any way shape or form. What a great metric. Everyone who enters, wins. Here is a quote from the FAQ with the Newsweek article: "1. How does the Challenge Index work? We take the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge (AICE) tests given at a school each year and divide by the number of seniors graduating in May or June. All public schools NEWSWEEK researcher Amy Novak and I could find that achieved a ratio of at least 1.000, meaning they had as many tests in 2009 as they had graduates, were put on the list on the NEWSWEEK Web site. Each list is based on the previous year's data, so the 2010 list has each school's numbers for 2009" Did you get that? The # of tests given divided by the # of graduates. This is a statistic of limited value, to say the least. Yet that is how they ranked the 'winners'. But wait, it gets better: "3. Why do you count only the number of tests given, and not how well the students do on the tests? [...] "I decided not to count passing rates in the way schools had done in the past because I found that most American high schools kept those rates artificially high by allowing only top students to take the courses. In other instances, they opened the courses to all but encouraged only the best students to take the tests. [...] And folks, this next is a stunning revelation. They actually excluded the best schools from the survey. Read that again: They excluded the top performers. Unbelievable. Here is the quote: "6. Why don't I see on the NEWSWEEK list famous public high schools like Stuyvesant in New York City or Thomas Jefferson in Fairfax County, Va., or the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, Ill., or Whitney High in Cerritos, Calif.? We do not include any magnet or charter high school that draws such a high concentration of top students that its average SAT or ACT score significantly exceeds the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country. This year that meant such schools had to have an average SAT score below 1,975 or an average ACT score below 29 to be included on the list." Grade inflation-without the hassle of grades.

DonBee

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 6:25 p.m.

@Scotty Boy - The transfer of the teacher from 3rd grade to the High School to teach French may be due the rules of the contract between the school district and the teacher's union. I would do some checking to see why if I were you. There are a whole bunch of rules about seniority and who can teach what, some in the union contract, some in state rules, and some in Federal rules. It is not easy to shuffle people between jobs. I doubt it was done just "because".

ScottyBoy

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 4:34 p.m.

Approximately half of the Saline teaching staff got an involuntary transfer for the next school year. One of them involves a third grade teacher transfered to the high school to teach French. This teacher has not taught French for 25 years. Just a business decision that does not have the best interest of the kids in mind!

ScottyBoy

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 4:07 p.m.

How much longer can Saline keep it up? Teacher bashing is the rule. Plus there is absolutely no diversity.

Salinedad

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 1:38 p.m.

This is a tremendous achievement for the students of all three schools who have taken the risk to take challenging classes such as those in the AP track and have achieved success in these classes. It is also a reflection of the high quality of the educators we have in the area and of the committment of these students parents who have provided the support and direction to help these young people succeed. We can only hope that the administrators and School Boards of these School Districts will take the same level of commitment provided by these students, teachers and parents and provide the same level of support offered in other districts in the nation by ensuring that the grading practices in these districts and class ranking processes in these district reflect the practices of similar districts in the nation. Today Saline, Huron and Pioneer students have a higher academic performance than similar districts in the state, but have a lower scholarship award value and a lower percent of students entering the elite 8 or top 10 Schools in the nation compared to other districts in the state. Why? Because of the lack of weighted grades for AP and Honors classes and the lack of using weighted values for AP and Honors classes when determing class rank. Because of that difference in administrative practice, our kids are not being rewarded for their success compared to their peers, but being penalized. Isn't it time for our school administrations to have policies that support students who achieve rather than punish them?

Tom Teague

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 9:25 a.m.

Congratulations to all three schools. It's a noteworthy achievement. Not sure why it's laughable to say that Newsweek can rank 26,000 high schools, or can select which one is 1290th vs 1166th. That's an easy analysis using available data and a set of criteria. Newsweek published its criteria, however, and it's open to skeptical review if you have the time and the processing bits to replicate it. And, I doubt that Newsweek biased the results based on local subscriptions or potential buyers. I see my old high school ranked in the mid 800s and I can assure you that the small town I come from doesn't have enough residents to provide a magazine sales spike. At least not the one that Newsweek needs to survive in the current marketplace. Finally, in addition to lauding the parents, teachers and administrators, we should acknowledge the students' role in this. They couldn't have done it without your hard work. Good going everyone!

DonBee

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 9:20 a.m.

Congrats to Huron, Pioneer and Saline.

garrisondyer

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 8:25 a.m.

The other nice thing about a lot of AAPS's and Saline's students is the parent involvement. To acknowledge the teachers and students is fine, but this should also be taken as a tip of the hat to the parents, as well.

Edward R Murrow's Ghost

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 7:48 a.m.

The predictable teacher bashers, when confronted with good news about the community's schools, go after the evaluation. "I'm shocked, SHOCKED, to find gambling going on in this establishment." NOT!!! But it does tell us their true agenda, and it has nothing to do with providing a quality education to the community's children. But we've always known that, haven't we? Good Night and Good Luck

Freemind42

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 7:43 a.m.

Wow, even when discussing something good about the schools people have to take digs at the administrators and "non-educational" staff. Why not just enjoy the fact that we live in an area with some of the best public schools in the country. For all the financially minded people out there, that is the number 1 driving force behind home values. good schools=valuable neighborhoods.

Tony Livingston

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 7:36 a.m.

Note that this is based on AP courses. How are the non-AP students doing? AP is not appropriate for everyone. Are the other students also being well educated? It doesn't look like that is a consideration in this particular ranking system.

Craig Lounsbury

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 6:25 a.m.

"Newsweek is a magazine for sale. It would be interesting to learn whether a disproportionate number of the 'winning' schools are from larger communities which, ranking for ranking, contain more potential magazine buyers." Excellent question. And to Ed'd Ghost how many of those 26,000 schools do you think Newsweek actually visited? My kids all graduated from Huron and I was very happy with their education. But to think Newsweek can actually rank them #1166 out of 26,000+/- is laughable.

AlphaAlpha

Wed, Jun 16, 2010 : 5:34 a.m.

"[Rankings are] based on how hard school staffs work to challenge students with advanced-placement college-level courses and tests." If this statement is correct, this ranking is a measure of 'staff effort', not any meaningful metric like student performance. How is effort measured? And why are they not measuring results instead of effort? Is 'staff effort' correlated with educational outcome? Doubtful. Newsweek is a magazine for sale. It would be interesting to learn whether a disproportionate number of the 'winning' schools are from larger communities which, ranking for ranking, contain more potential magazine buyers.

say it plain

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 10:03 p.m.

I presume that means "we count the numbers of students who take AP classes, and the numbers of students who pass AP classes, and base our rankings pretty much solely on that" lol. They're surely not getting inside these schools to gauge how teachers motivate their students to challenge themselves, I'm guessing.

AlphaAlpha

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 9:53 p.m.

From Newsweek - "[Rankings are] based on how hard school staffs work to challenge students with advanced-placement college-level courses and tests." What, exactly, does that mean?

say it plain

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 9:48 p.m.

Hey @BasicBob, jeez, you must not have graduated from one of these top schools then lol...had you done so, you would have carefully read the article itself, which states that a criteria for consideration in these rankings was: the number of students taking and passing AP tests. Since Community *doesn't offer AP classes* and since Skyline *hasn't had juniors and seniors yet to take AP classes/tests*, they couldn't have been considered for these 'awards'. So enough already with the dissing the other two worthy schools in town, 'kay?! Congrats to those who made the rankings nonetheless of course!

Basic Bob

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 9:21 p.m.

I must have missed Skyline and Commie High on the list. I've heard they're even better than Huron and Pioneer.;) Seriously, how can we rationalize that any student at CHS would be *devastated* by being placed at Huron or Pioneer? Academics? Music programs? Opportunities? Culture? It's time for the 70's hippie experiment to end. @local, Ghost, I agree we should reward the teachers at THESE schools, but we can't do that as long as we protect administrator salaries, non-educational support staff, and building maintenance at the weaker schools.

Edward R Murrow's Ghost

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 8:38 p.m.

Craig: There are > 26,000 public high schools in the country. PHS, HHS, and SHS are therefore in the top 4% of the nation's high schools. Pretty good, I say. Good Night and Good Luck

Edward R Murrow's Ghost

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 8:33 p.m.

Saline and Ann Arbor have, between them, three of the nation's best high schools. Thank-you teachers in those schools. You've done a wonderful job! So let's cut these teachers' pay and benefits!!! These lazy, under-worked and overpaid teachers need to have their wings trimmed!! Time to show them that we know they are paid far too much to do far too little. Wait--that makes no sense. But, then, the teacher bashers have never made much sense. Congratulations AAPS and SPS teachers. You do a terrific job! Good Night and Good Luck

Craig Lounsbury

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 7:48 p.m.

WE'RE NUMBER ONE!!!!!......thousand one hundred and sixty six

local

Tue, Jun 15, 2010 : 7:33 p.m.

And yet we want these wonderful teachers to take pay cuts, go figure!! These rewards don't come from having average teacher, but great teachers. And that starts when they enter school as youngsters.