Reputation is all in our “follow-the-leader” society. American culture has an intense fixation with reputation, including when it comes to choosing a high school or college. In this way, school rankings have become a dominant deciding factor in distinguishing the good from the merely adequate.

For about a decade, Newsweek magazine has ranked the top 500 American public high schools in the United States, publishing an annual list in their magazine. Lowell has been consistently ranked in the top 100 schools; in 2010 we were ranked 49th by Newsweek. This year, however, “The Best High Schools in America,” list published on June 20, 2011, went Lowell-less.

Our school has been regarded as academically superior for over 150 years, yet by some small error in processing, we have been misplaced. Lowell did not receive the survey required by Newsweek. “No one at Lowell knew how and when the marketing company hired by Newsweek sent out their ‘survey’ request, and to whom they sent it to,” assistant principal of student support services Michael Yi stated in an e-mail on Sept. 28, 2011. Surprisingly, our latest experience with Newsweek’s rankings had a side benefit. In investigating what went wrong, we began not only to scrutinize the way rankings are compiled, but also to question if these over-simplified — and over-amplified — lists are beneficial to the educational system at all. While we were proud of our status in Newsweek in previous years, our exclusion this year has prompted us to step back from our prideful position to reexamine the flaws in not only this ranking system, but both high school and college rankings in general.

The fact that our school could not be considered this year calls into question the process by which Newsweek’s rankings, college rankings, and school rankings in general are determined. According Michael Yi, Newsweek stated it used a marketing company to send schools an informational survey that, if completed and sent back, qualified them to be considered in the ranking system.

Our issue is in the numbers — do the math. To compile the 2011 list of the top high schools in America, the magazine reached out to administrators, guidance counselors and Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate coordinators at more than 10,000 public high schools across the country, according to Newsweek. However, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 24,000-plus public high schools in the U.S. in the 2008-09 school year. Further reducing the likelihood of the summary pool being authentic, only 1,100 of the 10,000 schools invited by Newsweek to participate in the survey responded for consideration in 2011, even lower than the 1,600 in 2010. Clearly the number of schools considered for ranking is but a fraction of the actual number of public schools in the country. “It’s not possible to rank top high schools out of only a little more than 1,000,” Yi said. Though the list boasts the title “The Best High Schools in America,” only about 10 percent of schools actually responded to the survey and were therefore considered as a possible ‘best’.

Furthermore, ranking is not comprehensive if schools must self-submit information in order to be considered. Additionally, there is an inherent bias, as the survey pool cannot be regarded as legitimate if schools can self-select to respond, thereby promoting themselves. Many schools that have the qualifications to be ranked very highly, like Lowell, end up not being placed, either because of an error in the process of getting the required information to Newsweek, or because they simply refuse to participate in the flawed system.

Even though we were initially surprised that Lowell was not included in this year’s rankings, when we learn how limited the criteria is by which schools are ranked, we further critique the magazine’s emphasis on statistics, both in its past practices and its new approach. In past years, Newsweek rankings were determined solely on the basis of the total number of Advanced Placement tests administered at a school each year, divided by the number of graduating seniors. Additionally, this criterium did not even take into account whether or not students passed the tests. The list is titled “Best High Schools in America,” yet it seems that a more fitting title would be, “Highest AP Course load in America.” A school’s success cannot be represented solely by the number of AP tests taken. A school is much more than just a factory for high AP scores, and school rankings should reflect that. There is, in fact, life beyond AP’s.

Granted, this year Newsweek made an effort to expand its ranking criteria, a step in the right direction. According to the magazine’s website, for 2011, schools were judged based on their four-year on-time graduation rate (25 of judging criteria percent); college matriculation rate for graduates (25 percent); AP/IB/ICE tests given per graduate (now 25 percent, whereas in the past this served as the sole criteria); average SAT and/or ACT score (10 percent); average AP/IB/AICE exam score (10 percent); and number of AP/IB/AICE courses offered per graduate (5 percent).

We applaud Newsweek’s attempt to update their standards for top U.S. high schools, and find this formula more extensive than last year’s. However, it is still inadequate. A high school cannot be judged exclusively on its test scores and statistics; the resources and environment of a school are equally important. Many argue that schools that focus more on building character and intelligence, rather than only the latter, are more effective and deserve a higher rating. A Sept. 14, 2011 New York Times Magazine article titled “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” suggests that character, rather than test scores or GPA, may be a more accurate representation of a student’s potential and a better predictor of whether a person will be successful in life. In perspective, happy, creative and resourceful students show a high school’s value more than miserable students, no matter how many AP’s they take.

Schools should also be assessed on their efforts to cultivate healthy school environments. Lowell, for example, has a Wellness Center and offers a multitude of electives and clubs that allow students to pursue activities beyond the academic. In order to provide a more well rounded ranking of a school, Newsweek’s criteria should include a “Quality of Life” ranking. Among other things, such a category could assess the ease of getting around campus, the friendliness of fellow students, the amount of interaction between different types of students, the amount of opportunities to pursue interests and build leadership skills, the accessibility of administrators, and the quality of the school’s relationship with the local community.

Like high school rankings, college rankings acknowledge the academic success of educational institutions, but we question the way in which those rankings are determined. Although applicants are the ones impacted, surprisingly, 25 percent of the criteria of U.S. News & World Report — another magazine that ranks high schools and colleges — is based on a survey sent to college presidents, not to students or even professors, according to a March 21, 2007 Time magazine article titled “The College Rankings Revolt.” How can college administrators be expected not to self-promote their school when asked to list the best schools?

Fortunately, some colleges themselves now argue that a complex institution cannot be condensed into a number and then compared to others. They also acknowledge the fact that one side effect of college rankings is that prospective college students may blindly apply to every top ranked, prestigious college in the country, an issue that is especially pertinent to Lowell students. If students only apply to top ranked schools, the smaller, less well-known colleges stay on the bottom.

We applaud colleges like Reed, which has opted out of the rankings system. According to the Time magazine article cited above, the heads of many private schools are hoping to collectively defeat the flawed system of rankings by convincing other colleges to pull out of the U.S. News & World Report ranking system, or to brainstorm more relevant data categories as an alternative.

Similar to college choices, it is impossible to fully grasp the differences between any two high schools based on a numerical ranking, which calls for a more comprehensive surveying of a school’s stakeholders. “I believe that students can rank a school better than Newsweek ever will,” Yi said. All the aspects of a school cannot be condensed into a number or ranking; a school’s purpose is to prepare students for what awaits after graduation. Clearly, a scale of 1 to 10 cannot encompass your future.

A version of this article first appeared in the Oct. 7, 2011 print edition of The Lowell.