A publication known for ranking colleges and high schools is branching out into middle and elementary schools, picking what it sees as the best in each state, including in Georgia.
The new U.S. News & World Report rankings sort schools based on their overall scores on the annual state standardized tests for math and English, which in Georgia are known as the Milestones.
The publication scored more than 65,000 public schools nationally and published intrastate rankings. It used U.S. Department of Education data from the 2018-2019 school year, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Georgia Department of Education already wraps these test scores into a school report card known as the College and Career Ready Performance Index, but it doesn’t rank schools.
The agency had no comment, but an Atlanta-based research and advocacy group for schools welcomed the new report.
“Every additional piece of relatively good data is helpful, and this feels like a relatively good piece of data,” said Dana Rickman, president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.
U.S. News says it hopes readers benefit from the sophistication of its analysis based on “multivariate regressions that assessed student performance in the context of demographics ... .”
Veteran educator Peter Smagorinsky dismissed the work as shallow, noting that it doesn’t take into account everything that happens in a classroom — the analysis doesn’t even reflect the science tests given once in elementary and middle school nor the social studies test in middle school, he noted.
“Overgeneralized data are not sophisticated and that’s all you’re going to get here,” the former school teacher and emeritus professor of English education at the University of Georgia said. He predicted that selective schools and schools in wealthier areas would do well in these rankings and, indeed, two DeKalb County magnet schools occupy the top two elementary school slots.
“I’ve been skeptical of these when they do them to universities because, hey, no kidding Yale is better than Montana State,” he said. “But you know, what are they based on? It’s all superficial.”
Metro Atlanta schools are well-represented among the high performers, especially those in wealthier communities such as Forsyth County. The north Atlanta suburb had three middle schools and four elementary schools among the top 10, more than any other school district. The school district had no comment, but Cobb County, with three middle schools among the top 10, said its scores reflect high quality, hard work and a “world-class experience.”
Test scores typically are tied closely to household income: Schools that do better tend to have fewer students in poverty. Yet Clayton County, which has relatively high poverty, had a school atop the middle school list: Elite Scholars Academy School, where more than 90% of students qualify for the discounted school meal program.
The new ranking system attempts to adjust for poverty and demographic factors such as race though the methodology isn’t entirely transparent. “It’s either trust the data or it’s kind of reject it out of hand,” said Matt Smith, an analyst with Rickman’s group.
Rickman advised people to use the scores as part of a broader assessment that includes visiting schools or talking with parents.
U.S. News’ top 10 Georgia middle schools
Rank, school, city - school system
1. Elite Scholars Academy School, Jonesboro - Clayton County
2. South Forsyth Middle School, Cumming - Forsyth County
3. Riverwatch Middle School, Suwanee - Forsyth County
4. Davidson Magnet School, Augusta - Richmond County
5. Dodgen Middle School, Marietta - Cobb County
6. Dickerson Middle School, Marietta - Cobb County
7. Hightower Trail Middle School, Marietta - Cobb County
8. River Trail Middle School, Duluth* - Fulton County
9. Piney Grove Middle School, Cumming - Forsyth County
10. DeKalb School of the Arts, Avondale Estates - DeKalb County
*River Trail Middle School is located in Johns Creek.
U.S. News’ top 10 Georgia elementary schools
Rank, school, city - school system
1. Kittredge Magnet School, Brookhaven - DeKalb County
2. Wadsworth Magnet School for High Achievers, Decatur - DeKalb County
3. Britt David Elementary Computer Magnet Academy, Columbus - Muscogee County
4. Daves Creek Elementary School, Cumming - Forsyth County
5. Big Creek Elementary School, Cumming - Forsyth County
6. Sharon Elementary School, Suwanee - Forsyth County
7. Johns Creek Elementary, Suwanee - Forsyth County
8. Marietta Center for Advanced Academics, Marietta - Marietta City
9. Austin Elementary School, Dunwoody - DeKalb County
10. Oakhurst Elementary School, Decatur - City Schools of Decatur
