T.C. Williams Jumps 11 Spots in Washington Post Rankings
The annual list compiled by The Washington Post is crafted to determine how effectively area schools prepare students for college.
T.C. Williams High School jumped 11 spots in the 2012 Challenge Index presented by The Washington Post, an annual list formulated to determine how effectively area schools prepare students for college.
T.C. Williams is No. 87 in this year's index of D.C. area schools, moving up from No. 98 the year before.
Of the approximately 22,000 high schools in the United States, T.C. Williams checks in at 784, up from 943 in 2011.
"The index clearly indicates that more students are taking more difficult courses at T.C. and reflects the trend noted for 2011, during which 35 percent of the students took Advanced Placement courses and tests (also the highest ever at T.C.)," Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Mort Sherman said in an email to members of the school community.
Since 1998, Jay Mathews of The Washington Post has organized the list, which includes 176 area high schools.
Mathews uses this formula to determine rankings: Divide the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or other college-level tests a school gave in 2011 by the number of graduating seniors. The index is not a measure of the overall quality of the school, but the rating can reveal the level of preparing average students for college.
Autoexec.bat
11:43 am on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
If TC Williams is the 784th best HS in the United States, I will eat my hat. It's 87th in its own metro area and I am supposed to believe it's in the top 4% of high schools in the country?
Beth Coast
4:00 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/local/highschoolchallenge/schools/2012/list/national/
Autoexec.bat
4:18 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Um, thanks? I know where to find the list - I just think it's wildly inaccurate.
Nate McKenzie
4:46 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
utoexec - It's accurate for what it's measuring. The list does not claim that this measure defines the 'best' HS. It claims that this measure is a proxy for level of preparation for college (correlation between taking these classes and success in college). So Sherman's takeaway is probably pretty good - "more students are taking more difficult courses at T.C." It also reveals a room for improvement. While ~2 advanced tests are taken for each graduating student, only 1/3 of graduating students have passed a college level test. So we have some good news and some opportunity for improvement.
Edmund Lewis
9:26 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
More importantly, are these students passing these courses and earning AP credit by taking the AP tests? How do the results of TC students AP test scores compare with the AP enrollment numbers? Any district or high school can boost course numbers. A 35 percent increase may appear to be Impressive but if the pass rate is low or AP test results are 1s and 2s then all you have are hollow numbers. ACPS has already had a few numbers called into question as of late. How is ACPS measuring its programs and initiatives other than through the use of a dubious Jay Mathews equation?
Nate McKenzie
10:58 pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Edmund - See #2 on the FAQ page (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/abcs-of-the-high-school-challenge/2011/05/12/AFHOfM7G_story.html) for an explanation of why he counted participation rather than score. It's to avoid the phenomena you describe and correlates with research (request a reference if you're interested?).
With this index, what is hidden is whether every junior and senior is taking one test or whether 1/3 of the junior and seniors are taking 3 tests each. E.g. is the school preparing all the kids a little bit or a more narrow segment more thoroughly. The data point that 1/3 of the graduating students have passed a college level test may imply something closer to the latter than the former but that's just conjecture.
Eva Swanson
6:01 pm on Sunday, July 15, 2012
Here is the link to TC Williams most recent AP score report to its school board:
http://eboard.acps.k12.va.us/attachments/00352904-06b0-4e37-a13c-fb9a7899c030.pdf
The report is extremely detailed and answers lots of the questions posed above and many more. Also, this year's graduating class was considered one of the best in recent memory so I expect the 2011-2012 report will look even better.
And in case you are interested here is the link to the most recent ACPS SAT report:
http://eboard.acps.k12.va.us/attachments/a287bd1e-7c95-4756-bc07-4e387aa308be.pdf
Again, the report for the class of 2012 should be even better.
TC has an incredibly economically diverse student body and the current regime is trying extremely hard and with good success to serve every segment of it. For many TC Williams students success is graduation from high school. For others success is being admitted to UVA or an Ivy League institution. I am pretty sure there are very few schools like it in the country.
Lee Hernly
4:07 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Actually Drew/Sharon -
It only moved up four spots.
See:
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/local/highschoolchallenge/schools/2012/list/local/tc-williams-alexandria-va/