With the advent of school choice and the ever increasing ability of a family to move from one state or one neighborhood to the next, there is an increasing desire for parents to seek high school rankings. When doing so, there are so many factors to consider. Some of these pop right into mind: expenditure per pupil, SAT and other standardized test scores, AP classes offered, rate of crime in the school and in the neighborhood surrounding the school. But there is one factor that goes mostly unnoticed and might be important when assessing high school rankings. Does the school ascribe to the cutting edge idea of Professional Learning Communities (PLC)?
PLCs and High school rankings
Professional Learning Communities are a new idea spearheaded by Rick and Betty DuFour. The success of their program and the logic of the ideas it espouses have led to a sweeping change in the way schools do business. So what is a PLC? Check out some of the main ideas behind them below and you'll see why PLCs are the latest in educational reform for High school rankings.
1. PLCs allow for a real sense of community. The whole purpose of high school rankings is to help the community assess schools. For PLCs that means everybody working together to ensure student success. Of course the usual suspects (students, teachers, parents) are included, but so are non-instructional staff like bus drivers and security officers. PLCs also include the community at large so local businesses and community colleges are drawn in to help the school and the students. What could be more important for high school rankings?
2. Another purpose of high school rankings is to gauge how effective teachers are in a school. PLCs use unique and flexible scheduling to allow students and teachers time outside of the classroom to boost learning. Students meet with teachers or other advisors one on one or in small groups. Teachers meet within discipline or within grade levels to work and plan together while sharing best practices. This is an essential part of PLC and is important to check for when considering high school rankings.
3. Because student success is a community effort, what students study can be standardized. While high school rankings always include standardized test scores, they don't always include other assessments. Although PLCs use standard assessments and formative assessments, they don't require teachers to ?teach to the test.? Instead students are prepared at a high level of rigor for things like state exams within the normal parameters of the classroom. What a great piece of information to include in high school rankings.
4. The DuFours insist that failure is not an option. In PLCs failure is seen as an easy way out. Instead, the community works to present the student with many avenues to success. This may take a while for students and teachers to get used to, but the change in ?mind set? is an important one in the path to student achievement and an important one when assessing a school for High school rankings.
So if you are a parent or student considering High school rankings, you may want to make the inclusion of professional learning communities part of your assessment. It is the wave of the future and an important factor in determining if a school is the right fit for you.
Basketball High School Rankings
In a knowledge based global economy where your educational qualifications will invariably decide your social and economic status in life, it's not surprising that such importance is attached to categorizing schools based on high school rankings. This is the reason why parents and students scan websites and pour through literature, searching for that dream educational institution that's placed on the top rung of the ladder for high school rankings. In fact, better education is one of the reasons people choose to move every year, looking to build a better educational foundation for their kids. You might think that while looking for schools it's best to base your selection on a predetermined listing for high school rankings. You might not always be right though. Here's why.
Are High School Rankings the Only Factor?
Advocates of high school rankings argue that in a situation where the public education system in the country is in a sorry state of affairs at best, parents need tools to base their decisions on. High school rankings provide parents with that tool so they can make an informed decision. While this is true to a large extent, the fact is that these high school rankings don't always take all factors into consideration while deciding a school's place in the scheme of things.
For instance, schools might sometimes place lower on the high school rankings largely because of their location and student demographics. Unfortunately, schools with large minority student populations have a tougher time making it to the elite top positions in high school rankings. This is also true for schools that have large or majority African American populations. Education authorities will argue that the test scores in these schools are so dismal because the students aren't motivated enough to succeed. Well, you wouldn't be motivated either if you had parents who worked two jobs to support your family.
The uncomfortable truth is that in lower income communities, parents might not always have the time or resources to expend on monitoring their children's education or motivating them. Managing to pay the bills and stay afloat takes enough energy. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that schools with larger levels of such student populations will rank lower. The quality of education or the level of effort put in by teachers (who work diligently to goad their students to rise beyond any perceived limitations) is beyond reproach. One of the major reasons why such schools constantly place low on high school rankings is because of the low motivation levels of students.
And what about the success stories of disadvantaged children from such low ranked schools who go on to enjoy successful careers? They alone are enough proof that high school rankings need not always be taken as an open and shut categorization.
Both Hugh Tanner & Patricia Hawke are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Hugh Tanner has sinced written about articles on various topics from Education. Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit
