Aragon was ranked No. 100 by Newsweek’s annual rankings of the 500 top public high schools in America. This was based off of a College Readiness Index devised by Newsweek in collaboration with the research company Westat.
San Mateo High School and Mills High School were amongst the top 225 of the rankings, making a total of three San Mateo High School District (SMUHSD) schools recognized by Newsweek. Kirk Black, SMUHSD Deputy Superintendent of Human Resources and Instruction, says, “Getting noticed by Newsweek and ranked in the top 100 for Aragon, and having three schools in the list altogether, is validation of our teachers
and staff and also an indication of how well our students [are] engaged in academics.”
When asked his opinion on why Aragon has moved up in the rankings, history teacher Michael Gibbons says, “I think we [at Aragon] have more support classes, way more support classes than we’ve ever had, so I think that also helps in terms of graduation rate … I don’t know that it means we’re teaching better. I think that we are teaching in a more focused manner and I think that we’re offering more support to students.”
“Aragon’s always been looked at as a high functioning school with very strong teachers, strong teacher leaders, strong administration, and strong parent support. And the most important [factor] is academically minded students,” adds Black.
To narrow down the number of public high schools evaluated, Newsweek only looked at schools performing at or above the 70th percentile in each state, using data from EdFacts and the National Center for Education Statistics.
How Newsweek evaluates schools has changed over the years. This year, Newsweek created a College Readiness Index assessing each school’s college enrollment rate, graduation rate, AP/IB enrollment and student enrollment in college courses, SAT/ACT composite, student retention, and the counselor to student ratio.
Using this index, Aragon ranked in the 84.6 percentile of the schools evaluated, placing them at No. 100 of “America’s Top High Schools 2015.” However, not all public high schools were evaluated, as schools were able to decline to participate.
“Every year, more and more kids are eligible for UCs and CSU schools. More and more kids are taking AP classes, so our standards are getting higher, and I think also our student body is getting stronger every year,” says counselor Steve Allekotte.
Says senior Dori King, “To be No. 100 out of the nation is impressive considering the amount of schools, but I do not think an individual student considers this an achievement on their part. I think it’s more for the school’s pride [as a whole] to be ranked, [and] the teachers and faculty take it more seriously.”
Some argue that the rankings hold little value because they cannot accurately evaluate the success of a school. “I think it’s impossible to really rank schools because it doesn’t take into account the full school … what they’re trying to do … where they’ve been and what the students are like or what the students go through. So, I think all rankings are just beauty contests,” says Gibbons.
However, Black believes that the Newsweek rankings hold some value. “When you’re writing for grants or when you’re writing to join programs and what not, certainly indicating that you’re a well performing school [that’s] been recognized by a national magazine with a national ranking system, like the Newsweek one, can’t hurt,” he says. “I think it also helps forrecruiting teachers and staff would want to work at schools that are performing well.”
Newsweek also created “Beating the Odds 2015,” a similar list that takes students’ socioeconomic background into account by factoring in the percentage of students on the free or reduced lunch program.
“I think about SAT scores, a test that can be mastered through taking tutoring which costs money, which may not be a great indicator of a school’s success. It could be an indicator of wealth,” says teacher William Colglazier. “It’s an incomplete [representation] of Aragon. There are things in there that can’t be quantified or aren’t asked to be quantified.”
In fact, the SMUHSD also acknowledges that income is tied to test scores. Black says, “We know that not all kids have the same resources available to them and that’s why we have many programs to either subsidize or to provide scholarships to students to take SAT prep courses after school at the schools.”
Black continues, “Some people are more well off and have more things that are accessible to them and some don’t, but in terms of our mission we treat all of our students the same in terms of trying to meet them where they’re at, be that academically or financially, and making sure that our goal is to have a sense of equity across the district.”
Adds teacher Carly DeMarchena, “I think privilege and financial opportunities have a lot to do with school rank, where academics is able to be a main priority … We are in the middle of Silicon Valley and have a lot of resources that many schools do not have, and we are pretty lucky for that.”
