America's Top Public High Schools

[katd30]

One of 2642's students goes to JH Rose High, is #688. Odd though, since Rose is known for having the lowest AP scores in our area and the highest dropout rate. So maybe Newsweek should not release this list until mid-July when AP scores do come out so it reflects the school's performance. However, I do realize that College Board and who ever distributes the IB and Cambridge tests may not release average scores per school to the general public.

Also, it only compares how many tests were taken, not how many students took AP tests. There is one girl at my high school who took a test every day of the 2 weeks of testing, and took 2 on several days. The list also does not reflect the number of dropouts versus graduating seniors. Or the fact that many sophomores, juniors, and even freshman take AP exams as well (I took 2 as a sophomore, as did half the sophomore and junior classes).

Newsweek also doesn't look at other types of classes. Many students at my freshman/sophomore year high school take Concurrent Enrollment classes at the local community college. And my junior/senior year high school has an articulation agreement with 2 state universities where we receive X numbers of hours for a class without taking an AP exam. Many of the students that take advantage of this agreement enter college as a 2nd semester sophomore or as a junior.

So... Sorry for the long post. My mind just kind of kept spiraling and I blabber a lot. But here is a good question, I think: What do the schools on the list receive? Maybe not from Newsweek, but in terms of funding and publicity?