On the heels of the U.S. News & World Report rankings in which Princeton High School (PHS), listed last year in the top 10 in the state and 196th in the nation, failed to appear at all, The Washington Post has released a report that places PHS at number six in its list of New Jersey’s “most challenging high schools.”

According to The Post, its Challenging High School index identifies schools that excel in “persuading average students to take college-level courses and tests.”

This year, only nine percent of the nation’s approximately 22,000 high schools earned this rating and placement on the list.

The Post’s ranking stands in marked contrast to the U.S. News & World Report. What accounts for the puzzling disparity?

In last week’s Town Topics, Board of Education President Tim Quinn and Princeton Public Schools Superintendent Judith A. Wilson responded to both the U.S. News & World Report as well as the recent New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) School Performance Report. Ms. Wilson described the latter as, in some instances, “a mismatch for Princeton.” The DOE report was criticized for a metric that fails to take into account, among other items, graduating students who go on to secondary institutions outside of the United States, the full range of Advanced Placement (AP) exams taken at PHS, and for basing college and career readiness at the elementary schools level solely on attendance records, which can provide a skewed picture because of Princeton’s population.

“We have a diverse student body,” said Ms. Wilson, noting that students may miss academic days because of religious holidays or for extended travel with family abroad.

A district release on the DOE report quotes Education Commissioner Chris Cerf’s April 9 letter to school administrators acknowledging that the School Performance Reports do not provide a complete picture. “Й we recognize that these metrics are not exhaustive of what it takes for students to be truly college and career ready,” he said.

“While the evaluation of student outcome data is crucial for school improvement, we know these data alone cannot capture the dozens of other essential elements of schools such as a positive school climate, participation in extracurricular programs, and the development of non-cognitive skills,” said Mr. Cerf.

An Interpretive Guide issued last month by the DOE states that many of the metrics are first-year data and that “data collected in a first-year collection are often of lower quality than that collected in subsequent years.”

According to a district press release, PHS ranked high on The Washington Post’s list because the Post “looked at a broad swath of students of all abilities, rather than solely the top performers.” The Post’s rating system factored out schools that focused only on what it calls “elite” students, noting that many “high schools kept those rates artificially high by allowing only top students to take the [college-level] courses.”

In response to The Washington Post findings, Mr. Quinn explained some key differences between the type of data used and the method of analysis between The Post and U.S. News & World Report. “What most impressed me about The Washington Post’s list is that it reflected Princeton High School’s belief that all students are encouraged to avail themselves of rigorous, college-level courses,” he said. “It also recognizes the economic diversity of our student body, that PHS is educating students who come from households with a wide range of incomes. Recent research suggests that family income is the central factor in achievement gaps among groups of students.”

“Princeton High School’s ranking [in the Post] is all the more remarkable when you look at the five schools above PHS: two are private schools and three are magnet or charter schools with selective admissions policies. This makes PHS the most challenging open enrollment high school in the state,” said Mr. Quinn.

While the U.S. News & World Report treats public, charter, and magnet school equally, regardless of demographics and enrollment practices, The Washington Post’s analysis considers the difference between open-enrollment and highly selective enrollment. It does not include magnet or charter high schools that draw “such a high concentration of top students that its average SAT or ACT exceeds the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country.”

The Post relied upon a metric invented by the independent, non-profit College Board. The Equity and Excellence rate is “the percent of all graduating seniors, including those who never took an AP course, who had at least one score of 3 or above on at least one AP test sometime in high school.”

In several ways, The Post’s findings are consistent with both the U.S. News & World rankings and the new DOE School Performance Report.

All three score PHS very high in preparing its students for college and careers. U.S. News & World gives PHS a college readiness index of 64.5, significantly higher than the minimum score of 45.75 that publication requires for Gold Medal status. The DOE’s report rates PHS “above average” in college and career readiness.

Of rankings in general, Superintendent Wilson comments: “In our society we are too often seeking quick lists and easy comparisons. Schools and school districts are about growth and capacity building for students and employees alike. No two years and no two groups of students are the same, not to mention that tests are not the same from year to year. So, it is important that we look beyond the first glance at a list or ranking to understand what is being measured and how it is being measured.”

With respect to the disparities between reports, Ms. Wilson said: “There is something to learn from each report that pushes us to further analyze our internal information and our work. But there are also gaps and representations that do not provide accurate reflections of a school or a district and we have to be able to differentiate among the points.”

According to Ms. Wilson, as data increases, the public should expect an increasing number of reports and an increase in aspects of achievement measured. As far as the district is concerned, it’s mission remains “to hold a steady focused course so that we are not chasing goals that do not have as much merit or potential for true student achievement. Any ranking or list that is only based on standardized test scores misses much of what an excellent education at PPS is about: arts, sciences, creativity, leadership, social responsibility, grit, and persistence.”