Jeff Horn, Green Valley High School Principal: Errors Rank Nevada School 13th In U.S.

LAS VEGAS — A principal says his suburban high school outside Las Vegas is great, but probably shouldn't win the title of 13th best in the nation.

Principal Jeff Horn is questioning the data that landed Henderson's Green Valley High School in the company of elite prep schools and specialized technical academies on U.S. News and World Report's "Best High Schools" rankings, released Tuesday.

"I know we do some great things at our school," Horn told The Associated Press. "It was pretty cool to hear that news, but the information it was based on was incorrect."

As first reported by the Las Vegas Sun, the rankings published online show Green Valley has 477 students and 111 teachers, a 4-to-1 ratio. They also show the school has a 100 percent pass rate on the Advanced Placement exam.

Horn said Green Valley actually has 2,850 students and a student-teacher ratio closer to 24-to-1. The school has a 64 percent pass rate on the exam.

Robert Morse, director of data research with U.S. News and World Report, said the publication is aware of the discrepancy.

"We're looking into it," he said.

Morse said the enrollment numbers come from the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data database. The federal statistics center, run though the U.S. Department of Education, collects and analyzes school data from state and local officials.

The numbers on the Common Core site – which reflect the 2009-10 school year – are the same as those Horn said are wrong.

Officials with the Education Department didn't provide an explanation for the numbers by the close of business Tuesday.

It's unclear where the mistake came from. Horn said the school did not directly provide the data to the publication, and said he noticed what appeared to be skewed enrollment numbers for other southern Nevada high schools.

Clark County School District spokeswoman Melinda Malone denied the information came from her office, pointing to a district report posted online that listed nearly 2,900 students in the school for 2009-10.

Green Valley, which touts a "One of America's Top Public High Schools" award from Newsweek on its website, has a relatively high graduation rate and an "amazing performing arts program," Horn said.

But the new honor, which rocketed Green Valley above nearly 22,000 other schools in the U.S., struck him as obviously wrong.

"Quite frankly, schools that get them are specialized, magnet schools," Horn said. "We've never been rated that high."

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• 15. Sturgis Charter Public School

  Located in Hyannis, Mass., <a href="http://www.sturgischarterschool.org/" target="_hplink">"Sturgis Charter Public School is dedicated to an "International Baccalaureate (IB) for All"</a> philosophy, preparing high school students for higher education in a supportive learning environment. Sturgis provides each student a rigorous world-class educational program, encouraging academic achievement, intellectual confidence, and personal growth."

• 14. Connecticut International Baccalaureate Academy

  Located in East Hartford, Conn., <a href="http://www.cibanet.org/page.cfm?p=4136" target="_hplink">"The Connecticut IB Academy,</a> a public high school with worldwide academic standards, connects a rigorous, pre-university curriculum to the world beyond the classroom by demonstrating the inter-relationships among the academic disciplines, by promoting international understanding, and by establishing a balance among academic, artistic, and social activities in order to produce responsible, ethical, thoughtful and informed citizens who are prepared to be global leaders.

• 13. Green Valley High School

  Located in Henderson, Nev., <a href="http://greenvalleyhs.org//" target="_hplink">Green Valley High School</a> believes that "the purpose of education is to provide experiences which will encourage and assist students to achieve their potential and to assume their responsibilities as members of society. It is the obligation of the school to instill in students positive attitudes toward growth, learning, leadership, and creativity, as well as ensure their full intellectual and character development."

• 12. Dublin High School

  Located in Dublin, Calif., <a href="http://www.dublinusd.org/site/default.aspx?domainid=132" target="_hplink">Dublin High School</a> "is a four-time California Distinguished School. It is the only comprehensive 9-12 public high school in the Dublin Unified School District."

• 11. San Marcos High School

  Located in San Marcos, Calif., <a href="http://www.smusd.org/smhs" target="_hplink">San Marcos High School,</a> the flagship high school in the San Marcos Unified School District, "currently serves a population of 2041 students from west San Marcos and communities south of the 78 freeway.... San Marcos students connect with their campus by participating in over thirty clubs and organizations and a full range of athletics and performing arts options."

• 10. High Technology High School

  Located in Lincroft, N.J., <a href="http://www.hths.mcvsd.org/" target="_hplink">High Technology High School</a> is "a specialized school concentrating on the disciplines of science, mathematics, and technology.... Since its founding in 1991, the application and admission process has become increasingly competitive. Seventy-five students are selected each year from a pool of over three hundred outstanding applicants. This totals to approximately 265 students from throughout Monmouth County."

• 9. International School

  Located in Bellevue, Wash., the<a href="http://www.bsd405.org/international/" target="_hplink"> International School</a> "offers the finest educational experience to all of its students, one which is unsurpassed in preparing them intellectually, socially, creatively, physically, and emotionally, so that they are inspired to become lifelong learners and realize their dreams in the world at large."

• 8. Pacific Collegiate School

  Located in Santa Cruz, Calif., <a href="http://www.pacificcollegiate.com/" target="_hplink">Pacific Collegiate School's</a> vision is to "offer any student the same quality of education offered by the most academically distinguished schools in California.... Pacific Collegiate School will emphasize international, cross- cultural, and technological education in order to prepare graduates for life in the 21st Century. Pacific Collegiate students will be introduced to the rich variety of world cultures and become fluent in at least one foreign language. They will become proficient in the basic information technologies essential for cultural literacy in the 21st Century."

• 7. Oxford Academy

  Located in Cypress, Calif., <a href="http://www.auhsd.us/Oxford/" target="_hplink">Oxford Academy's</a> mission is "to prepare students to be ethically and academically focused for entrance into college/university. OA is a seventh through twelfth grade college preparatory public school that opened in September of 1998. Recognized as a California Distinguished School, OA draws students from the entire attendance area of the Anaheim Union High School District."

• 6. BASIS Tucson

  Located in Tucson, Ariz., <a href="https://www.basisschools.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=127&Itemid=189" target="_hplink">BASIS Tucson</a> is the flagship BASIS School. "BASIS seeks to provide an accelerated liberal arts education at internationally competitive levels for all students. The rigorous college preparatory education at BASIS readies students for the competitive admissions process, helps them become eligible for scholarships, prepares them to prosper at top colleges, and enriches their lives."

• 5. International Academy

  Located in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., the <a href="http://iatoday.org/" target="_hplink">International Academy</a> "is a public, tuition-free high school of choice for students of 17 Oakland County school districts collaborating in consortium with university and business partners. Commencing with 9th grade, it provides a unique blend of rigorous academic standards, practical and career-related learning as well as personal development opportunities."

• 4. University High School

  Located in Tucson, Ariz.,<a href="http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/UHS/index.htm" target="_hplink"> University High School's</a> vision is to "be the premiere regional college preparatory school that serves academically focused and intellectually gifted students by providing a rigorous and challenging curriculum and by offering programs that reflect the diverse backgrounds, talents and cultures of our students within a supportive school wide community."

• 3. School of Science and Engineering Magnet

  Located in Dallas, Texas, the <a href="http://semmagnetschool.org/" target="_hplink">Science and Engineering Magnet High School</a> "is a learning community established to provide students with a rigorous college preparatory, academic and technical program relating to the sciences, mathematics and engineering fields."

• 2. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

  Located in Alexandria, Va., <a href="http://www.tjhsst.edu/" target="_hplink">Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology's</a> mission is "to provide students a challenging learning environment focused on math, science, and technology, to inspire joy at the prospect of discovery, and to foster a culture of innovation based on ethical behavior and the shared interests of humanity."

• 1. School for the Talented and Gifted

  Located in Dallas, Texas, the <a href="http://teacherweb.com/TX/tagmagnet/main/sdhp1.aspx" target="_hplink">School for the Talented and Gifted's</a> mission is "to provide an environment in which the unique worth, dignity, and abilities of each individual are not only recognized but cultivated and celebrated as well. We wish to provide an educational experience that empowers highly capable students to interact with their intellectual peers in academic, creative, aesthetic, and social endeavors in order to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow and to become life-long learners, responsible citizens, and contributors to the betterment of society as a whole in an ever-changing world."

Comments

[caffeinedrone]

08:39 PM on 05/10/2012

I will celebrate his honesty by bying some high heel shoes and wearing them in his honor all day tomorrow. Yeepee!

[carleronn]

11:36 AM on 05/10/2012

Harry Reid was doing the grading

[coachnelly]

09:28 AM on 05/10/2012

Well.....honesty is a virtue.

[mlaiuppa]

12:28 AM on 05/10/2012

These rankings are meaningless.

My two nephews went to San Marcos High School, (3rd in the state, 11th in the nation).

Both took AP classes and graduated with higher than 4.0 GPA. One was valedictorian.

Valedictorian went to Berkley (mostly on my parents' dime) and dropped out one semester short of a degree. He enlisted in the Navy, sat on his butt playing video games for the spring semester and summer until he went to bootcamp in the fall. He washed out on a medical. He's been sitting on his butt playing video games waiting for the next fall semester. That's a year and a half of doing nothing. He's never had a job.

The other went to UC San Marcos for one semester. Then he dropped out and went to the local community college. He's been going there for five years and still hasn't completed an AA degree. He got fired from his minimum wage, part time job working concessions at a movie theater after working there for six years. He's currently unemployed.

In what way did SMHS prepare either of these boys for college or the real world? Neither are what I would call successful at anything (unless playing HALO counts).

I will give SMHS kudos for one thing. In a state where there are 6,000 students for every teacher librarian SMHS has a teacher librarian (with an MLIS), that is a lot more than a lot of California schools have.

[Tamara Story Knowles]

06:14 AM on 05/10/2012

i'm sure your sister/brother appreciates your dogged support of their children. parenting is HARD- and an adult child who seems to be flailing can turn into a great success. don't give up on them- i'm just hoping neither they nor their parents have any idea about your post. times are tough- family is all that we have.

[mlaiuppa]

05:35 PM on 05/10/2012

No, they don't.

But it's getting harder to hold my tongue.

The two nephews came down to visit my parents, who are 82 and have had back surgery and heart problems. My Mom asked them to do something, I don't remember what. She overheard one say to the other "I knew if we came for a visit they'd make us work." Hence they don't visit their grandparents (who have spent tens of thousands of dollars to put them through college) very often.

They are lazy and ungrateful. My sister didn't raise them that way. They don't lift a finger around their own house either. They get it from their Dad, who is unemployed and living off my sister, the bread winner. He's "borrowed" thousands from my Dad that's never been paid back too.

[FiredUpRTG]

01:40 PM on 05/14/2012

Nothing to do with the school. The school can only provide the education; it can't make its graduates use the education productively, especially these kids, who sound like there are problems at home that's causing their disinterest.

[browpeter]

07:12 PM on 05/09/2012

If you find a school with the Inetrnational Baccalaureate grab it. The program starts late but it provides an outstanding comprehensive edustion that is recognized by major universities. In California there are a number of public high schools that offer the prgram for free and my son took it, passed and graduated from UC Santa Barbara. He worked hard, played football, played jazz guitar in the band and learned French. It is not like the AP system, it is a coordinated system that is monitored and supported in Switzerland and all the IB schools work together. Some of my son's work was corrected and graded overseas while the IB teachers here were working on strundents from around the world.

[Tamara Story Knowles]

06:15 AM on 05/10/2012

thanks so much for this information!

[docmark]

05:52 PM on 05/09/2012

Here in Texas, schools are given certain designations (Exemplary, Above Average, Average, Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory...or something very similar). They are all based on the standardized "No Child Left Behind" Tests. In the large metropolitan area where I reside, a High-School Principal actually went on the record to dispute his school's "Exemplary" status. As part of an investigative story, he outlined all of the little tricks schools use to receive a higher rating. One of his questions was quite revealing: "How can we be exemplary when 50% of our students don't graduate?". He then outlined legit methods used to exclude students from the ratings. He made it clear that teachers' jobs, individual school funding and school district funding hinged on those tests scores and the resultant designations. It looks good on paper, and is impressive when displayed in front of the school. But, it is absolutely meaningless. I woud guess that most Texas teachers are very much aware of this. Rather than using their talent to teach students how to think critically, teachers, by necessity, must devote most of their time teaching their students how to pass a standardized test. Their job depends on it. And parents? They'll be able to place all of the blame on the teachers, ceding all parental responsibility to the schools.

[mishae]

06:02 PM on 05/10/2012

@docmark - you've provided a very important critique in your comments of the No Child Left Behind initiative. I appreciate the forthrightness with which the principal you mentioned questioned his own school's rankings, and in doing so, point out the flaws in how data can be reported to fit a desired meaning.

[Elizabeth Schwartz]

04:00 PM on 05/09/2012

There are other major discrepancies (or, to use the more correct phrase, MISTAKES) on this report. The editors say it can take up to 2 months for them to correct - but there aren't only substandard schools that received too high a ranking, there are superb schools with 100% college readiness who received unusually low ones. I think someone mistakenly switched around some data, but it's a real mess. Better to look at the Washington Post and Newsweek lists.

[woodrow1]

03:22 PM on 05/09/2012

I live near this school. Green Valley High has a long standing reputation as drug cetral in the Henderson area. The pass rate is quite high for the district as the average in the district is a 49% pass rate. It is one of the larger high schools in the Las Vegas area

[heytheresportsfans]

02:05 AM on 05/10/2012

Woodrow, GV has a "long standing reputations as drug cetral"? Grammar mistakes aside, this statement is not anywhere near true. Did you attend high school in Henderson? Do you have children who have attended high school in Henderson? I have lived in the GV area for over 20 years, and can attest to the commitment to excellence held at Green Valley High School.

[woodrow1]

02:39 PM on 05/10/2012

As a cop making quite a number of drug busts, I know different. Your spelling mistakes leave a lot to be desired.

[pwright3571]

03:09 PM on 05/09/2012

As a retired principal, I applaud this man for his honesty. It sets a wonderful example for both hi staff and students. Newsweek and US News use flawed methodology in their rankings. They use AP and AB course participation and passing rates to rank these schools. These do not take into account smaller schools that can't afford these programs. Basing these rankings on this metric alone is false. There are many wonderful schools that will not, and cannot, make this list. I would strongly recommend that the public, boards of education, and the general public ignore these specious lists.

[bobcouchman]

03:05 PM on 05/09/2012

the government gets nothing right. i dont know why people want the government involved in every paRT OF THEIR LIVES. THEY WILL ONLY MUCK IT ALL UP. LOOK AT SOCIAL SECURITY, POSTAL SERVIUCE AND irs. NONE RUNS VERY WELL AND NO IMPROVEMENT IN SIGHT. WHY ALLOW THE us DEPT OF EDUCATION RUN YOUR CHILDS SCHOOLING.

[IdahoBlue777]

04:29 PM on 05/09/2012

I'm sorry. All I can see is your really pathetic grammar. I hope you don't think of yourself as an authority on education. No one would believe you. By the way, the government did not conduct this survey. It was performed by the magazine, "U.S. News and World Reports."

[LunaFlight]

05:27 PM on 05/09/2012

Morse said the enrollment numbers come from the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data database. The federal statistics center, run though the U.S. Department of Education, This survery was NOT conducted by "U.S. News and World Reports". The magazine simply reported the government stats.

[myplenny]

10:22 PM on 05/09/2012

You cant teach stupid people like you. Get Willard to dump it.

[tom ambrosia]

02:40 PM on 05/09/2012

Finally an honest instructor/principal.
Again Dept of ED is so messed up why do we need them...we do not...

[Swimdude]

02:58 PM on 05/09/2012

I was thinking the same thing. It is rare to see an educator that would say someone messed up, especially when they are getting an award. Kudos to the Principal.

[Allthosewhowander]

03:34 PM on 05/09/2012

Educators and principals are not always synonymous. My principal is far from an educator. If he was the principal in this story, he would take the credit, and it would go straight to his resume as he climbs the district ladder. He is a product of NCLB. It is very positive when this principal shows honesty and integrity in a time when so many don't

[victorzeller]

02:38 PM on 05/09/2012

I question ALL of the data about schools. With so many teachers cheating on tests for their kids, so many unions involved and the teachers not being held accountable, schools need to be more closely regulated.

[Allthosewhowander]

03:39 PM on 05/09/2012

Misinformed anti teacher rhetoric. This is a story about a principal showing integrity and stepping up to correct an error. Administration creates the environment in which teachers work, but you don't seem to be calling for administrative accountability.'schools need to be more closely regulated' and yet all you talk about is how the teachers are the problem. Teachers do not make or legislate policy. They are expected to implement it, regardless of its effectiveness. You don't seem to be calling for examination of education policy. Anti teacher. Anti union, blah blah blah. The propaganda machine loves people like you.

[rfb112]

02:37 PM on 05/09/2012

This is why database entries must be closely monitored - garbage in, garbage out.

[affbruce]

03:05 PM on 05/09/2012

In the case of government statistics, garbage is all there is.

[al pambuena]

02:08 PM on 05/09/2012

wow...a real honest school administrator, that thinks the truth is important.....that deserves an award by itself, and the students should use him as an example in their lives.

[Allthosewhowander]

03:40 PM on 05/09/2012

Integrity is becoming a lost art, so it is great to read a story about an administrator setting a positve example for his students to follow.

[USMC2]

01:53 PM on 05/09/2012

Makes you wonder about the other "high ranking" schools.....

[Michael Kristoff]

02:12 PM on 05/09/2012

My girlfriend works in the school system in Illinois and it is a lot worse in other states just another broken system.