Posted on: Sunday, September 26, 2004
VOICES OF EDUCATION
Educators see ranking of schools as mistake
By Robert Witt
This is the second in a series of articles by professional educators from both the public and private sectors addressing the choices and decisions that can best improve the quality of education in Hawai'i. The opinions, while written by individuals, represent consensus on what can be done to improve education in our island state.
The educators I know and work with every day, both public and private, have several serious concerns about school rankings published in the print media.
Educators observe that rankings encourage a focus only on the "best" schools. The factors upon which the best schools are selected, along with the weighting of those factors, appear to be arbitrary to educators. Finally, publications and Web sites which distribute such rankings almost certainly produce outcomes which do not enhance teaching and learning, and probably confuse consumers in the process.
Rank over value
There has been much commentary, pro and con, following the publication of the Aug. 30 issue of U.S. News and World Report with its front cover boldly announcing "Exclusive 2005 Rankings — America's Best Colleges."
Summarizing critics of higher education rankings, Ann Hulbert writes in the Sept. 19 New York Times Magazine that "the upshot is 'marketized' colleges, under more pressure to inflate their standings than to improve their educational offerings."
To take a specific case, consider the perspective of Macalester College President Michael S. McPherson. Writing recently in the Governing Board of Universities and Colleges Journal, he expresses his concern that "competition for the annual rankings exerts subtly distorting influences on college and university decision making."
St. John's College President Christopher B. Nelson argues that "rankings perpetuate a false impression that a good education can be numerically quantified." Such national surveys, he believes "encourage colleges to aspire to higher rankings rather than a better plan of education. A college's distinctiveness is lost in this system."
One best school?
Ranking colleges and universities greatly concerns elementary and secondary educators. Pat Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools, questions the premise that there is one "best" college for all students.
Bassett, noting that "what you do at college means much, much more in terms of success in career and life than which college you attend," emphasizes that it is "the match between the student and the school that counts."
Bassett's perspective reflects the belief of many professional educators in P-12 schools where, unfortunately, the tendency to rank schools has also become an issue.
This occurs despite the fact that most educators believe, as I do, that the "best" school — public, parochial or independent — is the one that meets the needs of a particular child, your child.
Elementary and secondary students deserve school cultures which nurture and support their individual learning needs whether they are bright students with learning differences, the gifted, students of average ability, or children who face particular challenges. Ranking of these schools, however, leads educational leaders away from offering rich alternatives, and instead reinforces a bland sameness.
Over the past few years, there have been several print media rankings of our public schools, along with several national Web-based initiatives that include Hawai'i schools, public and private. Whether intentional or not, such rankings of our Island schools unfairly label children and youth in their most sensitive and formative years and devalue the good work of our teachers and educators who deserve encouragement and accolades.
While rankings are presented as scientific to consumers, P-12 educators are concerned that these lists may become confusing or misleading due to arbitrary design. Did you know that ranking systems require publishers to choose factors to be weighted more heavily?
A good example a couple of years ago was the publication by Newsweek of its list of "100 Best High Schools in America" using, arbitrarily, only the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school in 2002 divided by the number of graduating seniors.
Some helpful criteria
Educators agree on the key characteristics of good schools: highly qualified teachers dedicated to high quality instruction; low student-to-teacher ratios; students who are challenged with high expectations; strong partnerships among parents, teachers, and students; a school climate dedicated to continuous improvement in terms of student support services and student achievement; and strong leaders capable of mobilizing and sustaining a culture of change and improvement in order to enhance teaching and learning.
Children who attend P-12 schools with these characteristics are well served. Parents have assurances that the formal accreditation process provides a periodic evaluation which requires all participating public and private schools to identify their strengths along with those areas needing improvement pertinent to these key factors, and much more.
Interim reports describe progress made, or not, on key improvement goals.
Act 51, enacted by the 2004 Legislature, focuses on the "reinvention of public education" in Hawai'i and requires educators to "grade" their improvement efforts, thereby adding even more information to our community-wide discussion about good schools, while reinforcing self-evaluation and improvement at both the school and system levels.
Innovation, creativity and enlightened leadership are among those prominent forces that typically drive the hard work of school improvement.
Might publishers and editors refocus ranking efforts toward illuminating the leading edge of important "reinvention" efforts now under way and already successful in Hawai'i?
Whether we are students, parents, or policy-makers, our thoughtful and persevering analysis and encouragement of self-evaluation efforts conducted by professional educators will be the most efficacious strategy for designing the schools Hawai'i needs today.
