Newsweek’s Best High Schools in America 2010
Every year Newsweek picks the best high schools in the country based on the “Challenge Index,” a ratio calculated by dividing the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge (AICE) tests given with the number of graduating seniors at a particular school in the previous year. The cutoff ratio for 2010 is 1.000. According to Newsweek, a ratio of at least 1.000 means that the schools had as many tests in 2009 as they had graduates. A total of 1,623 schools, or roughly six percent of all the public high schools in the United States, made the 2010 Newsweek list. This number is an increase of 66 compared to 2009, which had a total of 1,557 schools on the list.
The Tri-Valley made a strong showing on the 2010 Newsweek list with over half of our schools in the top 6%. Foothill High School and Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton ranked the highest among the Tri-Valley high schools at 404 and 603, respectively. San Ramon Valley High School in Danville placed 1,035 on the list. Rounding out the Tri-Valley entries were Monte Vista High School in Danville at 1,439 and California High School in San Ramon at 1,469. Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon should become eligible for consideration in 2011.
As with the 2010 US News & World Report ranking, high schools in Dublin and Livermore failed to make the 2010 Newsweek list of top performing public schools. The fact that Newsweek excluded Dublin High School is surprising, especially considering the incredible amount of hype from Dublin Unified School District (DUSD). According to both DUSD and Contra Costa Times columnist Alan Elias, Newsweek had confirmed earlier this year that Dublin High School “will be on the 2010 list.” DUSD can still petition Newsweek to have Dublin High School included in this year’s list.
Not all the schools that meet Newsweek’s “modest standard” make the list. Newsweek intentionally excludes many exceptional schools like Whitney High School in Cerritos, CA, from consideration due to their high concentrations of top-performing students whose SAT or ACT scores far exceed the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country. Any school with an average SAT score above 1,975 or an average ACT score above 29 is automatically disqualified.
The ranking system used by Newsweek to rate public high schools across the country is considered flawed by some, as it only considers the number of exams taken and does not take into account the actual pass rate on those exams. In theory schools looking to game the system can easily boost their “Challenge Index” ratios by pushing underprepared students to take the exams. Citing the cost of the exams, Newsweek dismisses such a possibility.
Congratulations to Foothill, Amador Valley, San Ramon Valley, Monte Vista, and California for making the 2010 Newsweek list of top public high schools in America.
1:06 AM on June 23rd, 2010
John Z. didn’t folks give you a hard time for not publishing this story ealier? I guess DHS now stands for Dublin HYPE School. I am embarrassed for that Contra Costa Times columnist who ejaculated prematurely over the good news that never was. Who’d believe anything else he writes after this pie in the face?
4:12 AM on June 23rd, 2010
“OneDublin.org (www.OneDublin.org), working with the Dublin Unified School District, can confirm that based on 2009 results Dublin High will be included in Newsweek’s 2010 list of America’s Top Public High Schools that represents the top 6% of public schools (including charter schools) nationwide.”
James, care to explain? You’re such a joke. Puahhhaha!
9:24 AM on June 23rd, 2010
Thanks for setting the record straight, John. I doubt anyone who is against the charter school will be rushing to correct the misinformation that’s being pumped out by the District. Of course, that will only help your case when you get to the state right? The Machiavellian side of me thinks that they rushed that piece of trash out in January just weeks before your hearing back in February to create this false sense of achievement. Perhaps James and the District should work on organizing a boycott against Newsweek for “denigrating Dublin High”. Please keep up the good work. People should try googling “newsweek’s best high schools in america”.
10:36 AM on June 23rd, 2010
I agree with you that the Newsweek list is very modest and flawed. Why the heck do they rule out those top high schools and still call their list a valid ranking? In any case, the US News and World Report list is a much more scientific ranking system.
Bottom line is that DHS does not make either despite all the hypes by DUSD and OD. This raises the serious questions about their credibility.
11:12 AM on June 23rd, 2010
Apparently this list is teeming with low-performing schools, so even if DUSD were to petition to have DHS included on this year’s list, what good will it do? Will DHS be able to outrank Monte Vista?
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7496878
I agree with you. As a result of this embarrassing episode, the credibility of DUSD has been seriously undermined. I am also amazed by how low Monte Vista ranks compared to the two Pleasanton schools. The only common denominator between the Newsweek list and John Z.’s analyses is that Foothill High consistently outperforms the other high schools, so perhaps that’s the school to be.
11:18 AM on June 23rd, 2010
Just had an appointment with a doctor in Pleasanton. He said he has heard that people are leaving Dublin because of the lack of a good high school. He said that yes, the elementary schools are good, but the high school is not top notch. So there you go, another reason why we should be supporting John Z’s Tassajara Prep efforts.
12:37 PM on June 23rd, 2010
yes let’s support tp – john z’s retirement fund
12:58 PM on June 23rd, 2010
When are idiot filth like this going to realize that attacking John Z. with lies that are being spewed by the District is not getting them anywhere? The only retirement we are funding is Dr. Hanke’s with all the parcel taxes.
1:59 PM on June 23rd, 2010
Well said, especially the part about Hanke’s retirement with all the proposed “permanent” property tax. Nobody believes it is temporary. When they get used to spending our money, there is no way they will let it go.
2:59 PM on June 24th, 2010
You ignorance is overwhelming. The parcel tax does not go to any administrative expenses. read the measure and see that it is audited and has a Oversight Committee review it’s expenses. As a matter of fact John Z. is on the committee. Perhaps if he would spend less time bashing DHS he could spend a little more time educating the misinformed.
12:07 PM on June 25th, 2010
You are too naive. Haven’t you heard about accounting gimmicks and funds maneuvering?
1:15 PM on June 23rd, 2010
Maybe you should be supporting it – based on what’s been going on with the push to get this school approved, they don’t have any supporters present! There you go, you can be supporter #1.
Maybe you Tassajara Prep supporters and DHS critics should put your money where your mouth is, because I sure haven’t seen anyone other than the businessmen that hope to run it come forth and publicly support this thing.
1:19 PM on June 23rd, 2010
Yawn. Who are against Tassajara Prep? Oh let’s see:
1. parents with kids in DHS
2. schools administrators
3. bad teachers
4. current students who wouldn’t benefit
5. local politicians
2:21 PM on June 23rd, 2010
Wow, way to deflect by making an obvious point that no one is here is arguing against (except for the whole “bad teachers” thing. Are you implying that good teachers support Tassajara Prep? LOL.) The district staff and people directly affected by DHS support DHS! Really going out on a limb there!
Again, I ask…if so many people are so disgusted with Dublin High School, where are they? If so many people are serious about their children and want them to get the best education, and they don’t feel DHS can provide this, why are they not serious enough to fight for the school?
To me, it’s a microcosm of what’s going on in this country. So many people are dissatisfied with the current system, yet no one does anything about it – they just wait for someone to come along to do it all for them, if that happens at all. You Tassajara Prep people should learn something from those Tea Partiers. Sure, a lot of them seem out of their minds, but at least they are standing up for what they believe in and trying to fight for change, instead of complaining from the sidelines like everyone else does.
6:56 PM on June 23rd, 2010
I couldn’t agree with you more. So many of the comments I see on this blog do little but complain or push unrealistic solutions. E.g. I’m all for improving our local school system, but I formly believe that TPS is not the right solution because *it’s not economically feasible*. In the world of 10 years ago where money was free flowing, it would have been a great solution — but that’s not the case now where our education budget is being slashed every year. Put the good ideas, and out precious little educatio funding, in DHS and work together as a team to make it work.
The constant attacks by the parents who support TPC (but can’t even show up at board mtgs to support it) are not helpful. I’m really interested to see how many of these parents have kids that will start high school in 2012-2014. I do (a 4.0 student in fact), and assure you that she will be at DHS because it’s a safer bet and more diversified program that the plan for TPS. Even if ultimately approved, I am firmly convinced that TPS will not be able to fulfill the majority of the goals they are laying out — they just dont have the funding for it.
2:04 PM on June 23rd, 2010
Email rec’d today from Newsweek. I’m sure Around Dublin will do the right thing and update this article when Newsweek corrects what was an error on their side.
From: “Jay Mathews”
To: onedublin@comcast.net
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 1:53:52 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: Dublin High notified of inclusion, but not on the 2010 list
This is a terrible mistake by me, and my brain is so fried from the last minute preparation of the list that I cannot remember how or why I might have made it. I don’t see your data on the Dublin High line in my spread sheet. I could have passed it on to NY and they dropped the ball, but I think the blame should still go to me. If you would please fill out this form and email back to me this week, I will get you on the list in our July update. Please accept my apologies and feel free to send this message to anyone you like, particularly Mr. Elias.
—Jay Mathews, Newsweek contributing editor.
2:14 PM on June 23rd, 2010
How do we know if this email really came from Newsweek? Unless John Z. gets an email from Jay Matthews, this is probably another lie by DUSD.
2:17 PM on June 23rd, 2010
Good point. Is it possible for OneDublin to forward the email to Around Dublin?
2:52 PM on June 24th, 2010
It’s funny how you take the biased opinion of John Z who has an agenda and automatically assume that someone is lying about an email from the reporter at Newsweek. You need to stop relying on the misinformed John Z. and do a little homework yourself. Stop being a lemming and start educating yourself.
4:32 PM on June 23rd, 2010
How do we know it’s really James? The Newsweek article came out on June 13th and just now, all this revelation comes out about how the omission was an error on the part of the journalist who wrote the story? I guess a fake cut-and-paste email will buy DUSD enough time to come out with another way to spin their lies and do damage control about how they were not included on a list that’s not worth getting on in the first place.
You know, a lot of guys have the kind of problem Alan Elias has (apparently there is a cluster in Dublin. There is no shame in ejaculating prematurely given proper motivation and sufficient incentive to do so. Perhaps the standards have gone up, and DHS got dropped as a result. Who knows really. But the point is Elias in good company with his problem, so really, it’s ok.
5:28 PM on June 23rd, 2010
I wouldn’t put it pass James to do something like that. That poor man seriously needs to take up a new hobby.
6:39 PM on June 23rd, 2010
Perhaps a better abbreviation for OneDublin is ED and not OD. Let’s hope Alan Elias learned his lesson from this very embarrassing incident. Next time, wait to publish the good news AFTER the data are made available. Otherwise, it’s not only his sorry reputation that is on the line, it’s everyone in Dublin.
John Z. I trust you will be fair to DHS if Newsweek really ends up updating its database. Throw them a bone. I know you can do it. It will be good to see how DHS’s numbers compare to the rest in the Tri-Valley.
7:33 AM on June 25th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – we’ll publish an update on Around Dublin if Newsweek expands their 2010 Top High Schools list to include Dublin High School.
Thx, John Z.
6:26 PM on June 23rd, 2010
If top schools with average SAT scores that are too high are immediately disqualified, the Newsweek list really should be the “Best Mediocre High Schools in America 2010″. I think the better list to get on is the one with all those schools that are disqualified because their students are too good.
I agree with some of the earlier posters. The more scientific ranking is the one produced by US News and not Newsweek.
11:12 PM on June 23rd, 2010
I am suspicious of the email’s authenticity as well. If DHS does end up on, as someone else put it so eloquently, the “Best Mediocre High Schools in America 2010″ list in July, it can be due to a petition by DUSD or a correction to an honest mistake on the part of Newsweek. If it’s the latter, people will then have to question the reliability of Newsweek and its reporters. Where was the quality control? I mean, if they missed DHS, how many other schools could they have missed due to such gross negligence. On the flip side, people will then have to question if there are schools currently on the list but really shouldn’t be. Regardless of the outcome, no one comes out of this mess unscathed. If DHS does not get added in July, the people who run DUSD end up looking like a bunch of liars. Contra Costa Times also look foolish for jumping the gun and publishing a story before it has all the facts. If DHS does end up on the D-List as a result of a petition filed by DUSD, DUSD still looks desperate and Contra Costa Times was incorrect for suggesting DHS had the distinction locked up back in January. If DHS does get on the D-List as a result of an error correction, it only goes to show that Newsweek did not exercise due diligence when it comes to quality assurance and thus doing serious harm to the credibility of this article as a whole. Let’s see what Newsweek will say about the schools that it will add to the database.
12:17 PM on June 29th, 2010
What happened to Dublin High? I heard it was supposed to get on the list, then it is not, and then someone told me the reporter screwed up. I don’t see anything on Newsweek, including the comments.
9:08 PM on July 6th, 2010
Just got an email from Jay Mathews of Newsweek regarding DHS:
“We will be adding it in our mid July update, with an index rating of 1.037…”
To put it in perspective:
Foothill High in Pleasanton has an index rating of 2.468, ranked #404;
Amador Valley High in Pleasanton has an index rating of 2.116, ranked #603;
San Ramon Valley High in San Ramon has an index rating of 1.555, ranked #1035;
California High in San Ramon has an index rating of 1.134, ranked #1469.
6:05 PM on July 7th, 2010
This is not a surprise as DHS scores have just recently improved. I think we all know where DHS sits relative to the Pleasanton and San Ramon high schools.
11:07 PM on July 18th, 2010
Congrats DHS for placing 1691 out of 1623! What say you, Around Dublin? http://bit.ly/aGC7db
5:00 AM on July 19th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – this is an important milestone for DHS. However, it’s just the beginning of a journey. It is great to see that DHS was able to administer more than 1 AP test per graduating senior. The next goal should be for DHS to elevate the number of students receiving college-eligible credit by scoring a 4 or better on the AP exam.
http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2010/07/latest-ap-exam-scores-show-improvement-for-all-tri-valley-high-schools/
Thx, John Z.
4:44 PM on July 19th, 2010
Interestingly enough, Newsweek deals with the issue on its FAQ page. As additional schools submit their data the list grows. Here’s a link to the FAQ page from Newsweek.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/13/america-s-best-high-schools-faq.html
9:30 PM on July 19th, 2010
I’m waiting for the article from John Z showing that Dublin High made the list since it is now official. Oh wait, that won’t happen because that could hurt his chances of getting the Charter School approved which in turn would hurt his future employment opportunities. No hidden agenda here.
10:44 PM on July 19th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – if you were writing the article about DHS getting added to the list, what would the title of your article read? Around Dublin is planning to update the original article or potentally publish a new article to recognize this cause for celebration. Maybe we can use your proposed title in the updated/new article. Let’s see some creativity!
Thx, John Z.
9:28 AM on July 20th, 2010
This goes against this blog’s historical assault on DHS, but how about “NEWSWEEK RANKS DUBLIN HIGH SCHOOL IN TOP 6% OF US HIGH SCHOOLS”
This was 6% statistic is taking from the FAQ associated with the article –> http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/13/america-s-best-high-schools-faq.html
I encourage AroundDublin readers to spend a moment to read that FAQ, especially FAQ #7, which details how *where* you place on the list is comparatively unimportant as *being* on the list.
11:16 AM on July 20th, 2010
Let me ask you this: What is the percentage of students who can get into the Ivy League universities? I bet it is much less than 6%. 6% is not good enough for me.
Besides, Newsweek list is very much flawed, as explained by several people here. My next question for you: When is DHS going to get into the US News & World Report list (even just the Bronze level)?
Another side story: Newsweek is almost bankrupt and Washington Post is trying to sell it to someone else. Chinese are very interested in buying it. Isn’t it Ironic? Nobody reads Newsweek!
11:28 PM on July 19th, 2010
Yes, now that DHS is finally on the bottom of the D-list they can finally justify wasting money on sending kids to Disneyland and getting everyone to triple their parcel tax payments.
10:22 PM on July 15th, 2010
From: “Jay Mathews”
To: xxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 10:00:11 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Dublin High School — Best High School 2010
I have no idea who Alan Elias is. I have never sent him any communication regarding Dublin High School in California making the list this year. Newsweek spends a lot of time making sure our data are as accurate as possible, and the kind of mix-up you described simply is not possible given our built-in checks and balances. Mr. Elias must have been mistaken.
=====
Just checked. Still don’t see Dublin High as of July 15, 2010, 10:10 PM PDT. Incidentally, I clicked on one of the links on another website, and it was supposed to take me to an article on Contra Costa Times about how Dublin High made the list. Well, see for yourself:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dublin/ci_14182213
Looks like Contra Costa Times is not standing behind its reporter Alan Elias either, since the article can no longer be found. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dublin High continues to claim that they made the list. Crazy people tend to believe in their own lies and disregard reality.
10:45 AM on July 16th, 2010
With all due respect, based on earlier posts, I think Newsweek would have communicated to OneDublin or James Morehead, not Alan Elias.
10:53 PM on July 18th, 2010
Just back from vacation. Dublin High School is on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best High Schools with the July update as Jay Mathews indicated would be the case (re: the email I rec’d from Newsweek posted earlier). Here is the link: http://www.newsweek.com/feature/2010/americas-best-high-schools/list.html. Search on 2010 / California / Dublin.
9:25 AM on July 19th, 2010
If Newsweek has a 1623 schools on their Best High School list, can we really say that a ranking of 1691 means Dublin High made the list? To provide some perspective on the ranking, Foothill in Pleasanton made the list at 418 of 1623.
9:28 AM on July 19th, 2010
That’s pretty funny, Anonymous @ 9:25am on 7/19. DHS made the list, but is below the lowest that made the list. I’m sure Newsweek is going to catch this (and James will probably let them know too) to keep the flack down.