The business of rankings: did the US News & World Report make substantial mistakes?

By Kevin Welner. Here’s an easy task: choose between the following two schools for your child.
School #1 provides high-quality instruction and strong supports in order to academically accelerate students and challenge them to take difficult courses.
School #2 provides high-quality instruction but doesn’t push students to do more than what is normally expected.
If you’re an actual parent, you probably prefer school #1.
But if you’re US News & World Report, selecting the “Best High Schools” in America, you apparently prefer school #2. More...