State Exam Formula Kept Holmdel Off Top Schools List

Holmdel High School Principal Bill Loughran didn't let being left off of the U.S. News and World Report Top High Schools list go unanswered.

The 2013 Best High Schools rankings, released in April, can help parents wade through the ever expanding options of public high schools, according to the magazine. U.S. News collected data on more than 21,000 public high schools from 49 states and the District of Columbia, the magazine reported.

Holmdel High School was left off of the annual high school ranking published by U.S. News and World Report, despite last year's high ranking.

Holmdel Principal William Loughran said in an email to parents that he had contacted the publication for an answer.

"The omission is frustrating since the methodology used to determine the top schools was unchanged from a year ago and our scores are almost identical," Loughran wrote. "To go from a 'Gold Medal' distinction to no ranking at all, with almost identical scores, does not make sense."

The following is an email Loughran sent to parents during the first week of May:

As you know US News and World Report released its 2013 list of Top US High Schools last week and Holmdel High School did not receive a state ranking.

According to its published methodology, US News examined data from every public high school in America (over 21,000) from the 2010-2011 school year and considered the following criteria:

1. A school’s performance on its state exam (for NJ, the HSPA exam given to students in Grade 11);
2. The school’s achievement gap on the state exam between its general and disadvantaged population;
3. A school’s college readiness index, as measured by the percentage of its senior class passing at least one Advanced Placement exam.

In order to be considered for a national and state ranking, a school needed to exceed expectations in all three areas. With regard to items 2 and 3, Holmdel High School easily outpaced the expected minimums for consideration, with an achievement gap 19% better than the state average and a college readiness index of 49.1 - far above the national mean of 14.8. Both of these scores are among the best in NJ and in the country.

It was our score on item 1, however, that left us without a ranking this year. Based on a numerical formula that weighted our performance on the state exam (Advanced Proficient, Proficient, Partially Proficient) on a sliding scale relative to our percentage of economically disadvantaged students (2%), we needed to earn a Performance Index of approximately 118 or better – we received a score of 116.9. This was confirmed by the Director of Data Research from US News.

We are disappointed not to have received a ranking this year by US News since we truly believe all of the students receive a first-rate education at our high school and are well-prepared for life after they leave us. Regardless, we are committed to continual improvement and will continue to focus our efforts on providing the best educational program we can for the students of Holmdel High School.