Ladue School District: Why Ladue High Didn't Make U.S. News' Rankings

When the annual ranking of high schools by the magazine U.S. News & World Report came out on Tuesday, nine St. Louis-area schools were ranked in Missouri's top 20—but Ladue Horton Watkins High School was not among them.

That prompted a response from the Ladue School District from Susan Dielmann, the district's director of communications.

The details are below. The major reason, Dielmann's note said, was that the U.S. News survey in part relies on results from high school students on "end of course" tests in algebra I.

In the Ladue district, "only 24 percent scored proficient or advanced, effectively eliminating Ladue Horton Watkins High School from the national rankings," she wrote. "However, the vast majority of our students take the algebra I end of course exam in eighth grade, and these results are not counted." 

In the survey, St. Louis-area schools swept the top 5 in Missouri: Metro Academic and Classical High School in St. Louis was No. 1; Clayton High was No. 2; Kirkwood High took No. 3; Marquette High in Clarkson Valley was No. 4; and Eureka High was No. 5.

Here's more information about the rankings, directly from Dielmann's memo:

• At many high schools, students either do not take algebra I until high school and/or they do not take the end of course exam until they reach high school, regardless of when the course is actually taken. Either one of these would tend to improve overall "results" as calculated by US News.
• Ladue Schools will be evaluating when end of course exams are given to ensure that results calculated for any report accurately reflect the performance of our students.

As a reminder…

One measure of success that can be easily compared with other school districts across the state, as well as nationally, is ACT scores. The vast majority (approximately 90%) of our students take the ACT which specifically measures college preparedness.  Following are our ACT rankings for the last six years… 

ACT Rankings in Missouri

Year

Composite

English

Math

Reading

Science

2007

1

1

1

3

3

2008

1

1

1

4

2

2009

1

1

1

1

1

2010

2

3

3

2

2

2011

1

1

4

4

2

2012

1

1

1

2

2