Insiders Report on the Challenge Index

This week, Newsweek magazine and its Web site Newsweek.com unveil this year's Top High Schools list, based on a rating system I invented a decade ago called the Challenge Index. The index ranks schools based on college-level course participation, adding up the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and other college-level tests in a given year for a given school, and dividing that total by its number of graduating seniors.

Several weeks ago I asked students, teachers and parents to tell me how this annual ranking affected their schools. Here is a sampling of several points of view, both critical and complimentary.

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So, with regard to your Challenge Index -- it really is a quick and dirty way of assessing schools. Very ambitious and probably very imperfect. However, there isn't anything else out there like it. I think the reason our school systems are not very good compared to other countries is that we underestimate the abilities of our children. I think too the education field is fuzzy -- not very good data or evidence to support the programs that are out there. . . . More and better research is needed. And of course there are the socioeconomic/family issues of some schools/districts that cannot/will not be fixed with just higher expectations.

-- Terry Adirim Montgomery County

I will give you two ways the index is affecting my school. First, the school system is unhappy with the results of our AP Calculus class. The basic problem is that the basic math skills are poor. This has been identified and confirmed within the system. So, our solution is to require all kids who are going to take AP Calculus to first take general calculus. I pointed out that the syllabus for both classes is essentially the same. So we will be offering Calculus Part 1 (general calculus) and Calculus Part 2 (AP Calculus) on a 4x4 block. The kids will get the same course twice.

The second area I've seen an impact is on scheduling. As I noted above we are on a 4X4 block. This past winter we were told that we were going to change the schedule to make education better for all. In every meeting all I heard about was how the new schedule would benefit the IB/AP courses. The problem with the index is that you manage what you measure. I want to see high achievement in our schools. I think we should do it by raising the bar of academic expectations for all children.

-- Gene Gartner Rappahannock High School (Va.)