US News & World Report: GBS Did Not Meet Ranking Requirements

When US News & World Report recently released rankings of the best high schools around the country and here in Illinois,

The magazine’s director of data research told Patch Monday that there was no error regarding Glenbrook South in the rankings, despite

Neighboring schools including Glenbrook North (#19), New Trier (#13), Evanston Township (#17) and both Highland Park (#12) and Deerfield High Schools (#7) were included.

“Given that we submitted our data for this report in September of 2011, we are surprised to find that GBS has not been properly ranked,” Director of Public Relations and Communications Karen Geddeis told Patch last week when contacted about the rankings. “…We are confident that if our submitted data were used in this report, GBS would be ranked among the other top performing schools in Illinois.” 

Geddeis said Friday the school had yet to hear back from the magazine regarding an inquiry about the alleged error.

Magazine stands behind rankings

Typically included among the area's best schools and often an attractive draw for homebuyers moving to the area, Glenbrook South was not included on the magazine’s list because the school’s economically disadvantaged and minority students did not perform above the state average, the magazine’s Director of Data Research Robert Morse told Patch Monday.

According to Morse, in order to qualify for ranking eligibility (based on high college readiness) a school must first meet two standard benchmarks. For the first, a performance index based on state tests, Glenbrook South performed well. But for the second, a measure of how minority and low-income students score on state tests, Glenbrook South fell short, Morse said.

“Based on our methodology there was no error,” he said. “There was no computation mistake.”

Glenbrook South Principal Brian Wegely said Tuesday that the school had still been unable to connect with the magazine.

“We’re unable to comment until we speak to the organization,” he said. “We want to make sure we have a full understanding.”

The rankings were released as part of the Best High School rankings, now in its fourth edition, according to the Huffington Post. To be eligible for a state ranking, a school must be a national gold or silver medal winner, neither of which was awarded to Glenbrook South. 

Drawn from a pool of 22,000 public high schools in 49 states as well as the District of Columbia, the rankings incorporate factors such as test scores, state assessments and college-level coursework, including AP or IB programs.

Chicago Public Schools' Northside College Prep and Walter Payton College Prep ranked No. 1 and 2 respectively. 

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