I am curious as to people's opinions about the Annual Report Newsweek has regarding "America's Top Public High Schools". You can find the report here. The ranking is established by taking the number of AP exams the school administers divided by the number of graduating seniors. You can learn more about the rankings here.

Personally, I am not sure that this is an accurate measure of the "Best Schools". The results can be manipulated in several ways. For example, what if your senior class is much smaller than the other classes? What if students are required to sit for exams and the exam fees paid by someone other than the students, oposed to students choosing and paying?

Do I think that it is good that students take AP courses? Absolutely. Students need to be challenged and it is great that many schools are giving more access to the AP courses. The key will be for schools and teachers to keep the standards high while increasing access to these courses. If the level of instruction or expectations decreases, the program will ultimately suffer. School districts will have to do more preparing students for the rigours of AP courses. This could be a great thing as the rigour of classes leading up to AP classes increases.