New York State has blocked the release of crucial data to U.S. News & World Report, significantly impacting the national rankings of its top public high schools. The state Education Department has prevented the College Board, the sole verifier of Advanced Placement (AP) exam results, from submitting school-level data to U.S. News for its annual Best High Schools list.
This decision has led to a near-complete erasure of AP exam performance from the rankings for New York schools. U.S. News & World Report utilizes two primary metrics that account for 40% of its ranking: college readiness (30%) and college curriculum breadth (10%). Historically, these metrics have heavily relied on AP and International Baccalaureate (IB) exam results. However, by withholding AP data, the state has forced U.S. News to base these critical components of the ranking solely on IB results for New York schools.
This has created a skewed landscape, as New York has 1,110 schools offering AP courses compared to only 56 offering IB programs. Consequently, schools excelling in AP programs, which are nationally standardized and independently scored, saw their rankings plummet. For example, Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts in Harlem, which previously ranked 11th in the state, dropped to 196th. Similarly, Stuyvesant High School, a specialized school with near-perfect proficiency rates in math and reading, fell from 3rd in the state to 22nd, and from 33rd nationally to 2,561st.
In contrast, schools that offer the IB program have seen artificial inflation in their rankings. Harlem Village Academy West, an IB school, climbed to 5th in the state and 224th nationally, despite a significantly lower math proficiency rate compared to schools like Success Academy.
The New York State Education Department's action has drawn criticism for hindering a standardized, objective measure of school performance. AP exams are standardized tests that assess college-level work across various subjects, scored by the College Board. IB, while rigorous, incorporates a larger component of subjective teacher-graded internal assessments and coursework, alongside a broader, multi-year diploma program.
Critics argue that this data blockade makes it harder for families to evaluate school performance and make informed decisions about school choice and neighborhood selection. The move aligns with efforts by some advocacy groups, such as the New York State United Teachers, to reduce the emphasis on standardized test scores in school accountability measures. In 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law that delinked teacher evaluations from student performance metrics like test scores.
In response to the ban on releasing verified test information, Success Academy filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court seeking to overturn the New York State Education Department's policy. The lawsuit contends that the state is shielding itself from accountability by obscuring data that demonstrates student achievement.