High School 'Challenge' Rankings Unreliable and Invalid, Regional Super Says

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and school rankings are only as good as their methodology.

On Thursday, Patch reported on the Washington Post’s “Challenge Index,” an annual ranking by the publication that gauged how many advanced placement and International Baccalaureate tests were being taken by seniors in high schools across the country.

Oddly, both high schools in the West Morris Regional School District were absent from the rankings, despite offering both curricula and their accompanying tests.

That’s because the district chose not to participate in the ranking structure.

According to Superintendent Mackey Pendergrast, the Post’s list comes from individual schools’ records, not from third parties or neutral sources.

“For this “Challenge Index” ranking, schools submit information directly to the Washington Post unlike NJ Monthly (and some others) which takes its data directly from the NJ Performance Reports and Department of Education,” Pendergrast said. “The WMRHSD chose not to participate in the Washington Post Challenge ranking this year as information is submitted directly from each high school and is, therefore, not subject to a third-party, neutral, unbiased source. The Washington Post does not check the validity of its data. Therefore, it is an unreliable ranking.”

Both Central and Mendham have increased their AP and IB programs and the test associated with them, Pendergrast said.

Washington Post’s index ranked more than 2,200 schools across the country, including nearby schools like Mt. Olive, Morristown, Randolph, and Chatham.

In 2014, West Morris Central was ranked 11 in the state by New Jersey Monthly and 209 nationally by Newsweek. Mendham was ranked 4 and 81 in those same publications, respectively.