BREAKING NEWS; Academic Magnet High School is now ranked the 8th best school in the United States per US News and World Report., based on the class of 2021). This is rather disappointing news given that the school had previously been ranked second for the last 3 years consecutively. Now, even though everyone loves to quote the fact that we are ranked so highly, how many people actually know how US News and World Report comes to these conclusions, especially considering the fact that we scored 99.96 on their 100 point scoring report?

According to their website, “The U.S. News Best High Schools rankings include data on nearly 25,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 18,000 schools were ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college.” https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/rankings-overview

According to the US News and World Report 2023-2024 Best U.S. High School’s most recent report Academic Magnet had the following rankings:

• 8th in National Rankings
• 1st in South Carolina High Schools
• 1st in Charleston, SC Metro Area High Schools
• 4th in Magnet High Schools
• 29th in STEM High Schools

Academic Magnet had the following scorecard: Total score was 99.96.

• 100% Took at Least One AP Exam
• 100% Passed at Least One AP Exam
• 100% Reading Proficiency
• 100% Science Proficiency
• 100% Graduation Rate

If Academic Magnet’s academic qualities were scored as perfect in all the categories above, why did we still only receive a 99.96 while the 1st ranked school in the nation, The Early College at Guilford, received a 100? US News says that the schools were ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college; however, for Academic Magnet they show only 5 of the 6 rankings, and of those 5 factors shown, we have 100s, so clearly the last factor that was not displayed was truly the difference between Academic Magnet and being ranked the greatest school in the United States. It is also important to note, when viewing the score cards of each school, not every school is ranked on the same criteria. Here are the difference in score card between the 1st and 8th ranked school:

This shows how difficult it is to understand how these schools were ranked  against each other, considering that each school has a different score criteria. For example, Early College at Guilford does not have a science proficiency rating, while Academic Magnet does. This could affect a school’s ratings if certain statewide tests are more difficult than others  where the school resides, or in Early College’s case, some states do not even require certain standardized tests. The biggest challenge in understanding the report was not the schools different criterias, but that the US News and World Report did not show every factor rated, making it difficult to truly establish why one was ranked above another.

Based on the scorecard displayed, the singular factor that caused our school the top rank among all high schools in the nation was our “Underserved Student Performance,” holding a 10% value in the scorecard. The US News and World Report 2023-2024 Best U.S. High School’s Underserved Student Performance was described as “Scores on state assessments aggregated just among students who are Black, Hispanic and from low-income households. These scores are compared with what is typical in the state for non-underserved students, with parity or higher being the goal.”  However, it is very important to note that this factor was based on DATA FROM 2018-2019 STATE ASSESSMENTS. This means that this ranking was not reflective of the 2022-2023 school year, as the students recorded are not currently attending Academic Magnet.

The biggest issue with The US News and World Report 2023-2024 Best U.S. High School’s, is that a large majority of the data is outdated, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic not allowing for recent, accurate recorded data. US News and World Report stated “The Department of Education invited states to request a waiver for the 2020-2021 school year that allowed them not to be penalized for assessment participation below the 95% threshold typically required of states.” This means that the scoring of state assessments is incredibly unreliable and holds too prevalent a factor in each school’s ranking. “Emanating from these waivers and the prevalence of remote instruction for the first half of the 2020-2021 school year, much of the data collected for the 2023-2024 Best High Schools rankings was either not available for the 2020-2021 school year or reflected participation rates too low and unreliable for conducting valid comparisons.” This states that because of the Covid-19, a significant portion of the data required to accurately rank each school was largely unavailable. “To account for this, 2020-2021 state assessment participation rates were first calculated for schools and states to determine in which cases their scores could be incorporated into the rankings. Then depending upon these school and state participation rates, the rankings were computed using 2020-2021 assessment data (in cases of high participation), 2018-2019 state assessment data (low participation) or a combination of these years (intermediate participation). Assessments from 2019-2020 weren’t available for any state since they weren’t taken due to COVID-19. Each state was assigned a default category, as follows:”

• If the state’s overall 2020-2021 participation rate was at least 90%, the default for that state was to use its 2020-2021 assessment data.
• If the state’s overall 2020-2021 participation rate was at least 75% but less than 90%, the default for that state was to use an average of its 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 assessment data.
• If the state’s overall 2020-2021 participation rate was below 75%, the default for that state was to use its 2018-2019 assessment data

Considering the incredibly slim margins of 0.06% between the first and eighth ranked schools in the nation, this rather unreliable and inconclusive data by which they ranked each school leaves these differences between the schools former ranking and current ranking rather meaningless. Based on these rankings, Academic Magnet remains one of the top high school institutions in the United States, and this drop in ranking should be of no concern to current and prospective students.

Authors Opinion: I believe that Academic Magnet deserves the ranking as the greatest school in America, and the fact that we are not is a reflection of the corrupt dealings of US News and World Report as they are conspiring against us, just like how the United States government convinced the American populace that the Moon Landing was real.