Why was honorable mention added to the Americas Best High Schools rankings for the second year in a row?
An honorable mention school is one that may have done a particularly good job of preparing students for college, but it was not able to meet the state test performance criteria. Had these schools met the state test criteria, their college readiness performance would have placed them among the top 100 schools nationwide (gold level status). We thought it was important that schools with such high levels of college readiness receive some kind of recognition, while at the same time maintaining the rigorous standards embedded in the methodology to keep these schools separate from the medal winners.
Related Questions
- Why did schools change rankings in the 2010 Americas Best High Schools rankings compared to the rankings a year ago?
- Why are private schools not ranked as part of the U.S. News 2010 Americas Best High Schools rankings?
- Why was the honorable mention designation added to the 2009 Americas Best High Schools rankings?
