For example, how does Hidalgo H.S. rate so highly in this ranking when it is strictly middling among Texas high schools on the basic Texas accountability indicator (percent of students meeting standards for all tests) — only about half are meeting that criterion. See this map on School Performance Maps — Hidalgo is the orange-yellow marker near the middle. It sounds like a school that’s doing a great job with its students, but how can 95% be “college ready” if half are failing at least some of the state assessments? And Hidalgo has been slipping relative to other Texas high schools in the last two years (6th decile in 2005, 5th in 2006, 4th in 2007).

It seems like more valid comparisons can be made on a within-state basis, where there is more consistent data to work with. But I guess that’s just not splashy enough for a U.S. News cover.

First, the school is most definitely not 4.5% “minority”, as reported. It has a large number of asian and south-asian (Indian, Pakistani) students - around 40% last I heard - along with a small number of black and hispanic students. The actual “minority” percentage should be about 45% not 4.5%. If you click on the minority label in the story, it turns out that only blacks and hispanics count as minority individuals according to U.S. News.

Second, I was discussing this with a fellow TJ alum this weekend, and we can’t understand how Jefferson is not included as a “magnet” school. As noted in the Dec. 5 Sam Freedman NYT article, the school draws from five counties, including Fairfax (one of the largest school systems in the country). Additionally, it was specifically founded as a magnet school for Science and Technology. If anyone can enlighten us on the magazine’s decision to label TJ as “not a magnet”, please do!