What's in a List? CCHS Shows Well in One, Nearly Tops Another

Does GoLocal Worcester know something Newsweek doesn’t? And does either of those pubs check their math with BoMag's or the US News and World Report?

Hard not to ponder those questions after Concord-Carlisle High nearly topped the Worcester pub’s list of the state’s best high schools, but was only toward the top of the Commonwealth in Newsweek’s rankings of the nation’s top high schools.

The No. 4 spot CCHS claimed on GoLocal Worcester’s list of Massachusetts’ Top High Schools in 2013 is pretty close to to the norm, when these “Best of" lists are compiled by an in-state publication.

In the not too distant past, CC occupied the No. 4 spot on Boston Magazine’s Best Schools of 2012 list. However, Concord-Carlisle was ranked 33rd by US News. 

Keep in mind, the publications all use different formulas and different starting points. This resulted in different schools making the grade, and different grades for schools that appeared on these most recent GoLocal and Newsweek lists.

Newsweek compiled its rankings after sending out a survey to more than 5,000 high schools in the US, with about 2,500 schools responding in 2013. GoLocal, meanwhile, “employs a formula developed at Babson College to assess and weight each school's latest MCAS and SAT scores, plus per pupil funding, student-teacher ratios, and graduation rates,” according to the site.

In GoLocal’s calculations, they used the latest available data—current as of April 2013—from the Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education's databases.

You can read more about Newsweek's methodology here. And you can read more about GoLocal Worcester's methodology here. 

Your Turn: With all that in mind, we want to know, How would you rank Concord-Carlisle High?