Weston School Rankings – Do They Matter?

Weston Town Crier, February 18, 2021
The following was submitted by John Sallay

​Frank Caine’s article two weeks ago, “Weston Public Schools – Are We Getting What We’re Paying For?” pointed out that, despite declining enrollment, Weston school costs have continued to increase. Weston’s per-pupil spending now far exceeds both past levels and those of comparable affluent towns. He noted that the extra, premium cost amounts to about $11 million annually. And yet, Weston’s standardized test scores are average among this group of towns, with some below average. Caine wrote, “On balance, our higher-than-average per-pupil-expenditures are having a lower-than-average impact.”

One could argue that school excellence has both objective and subjective components. While these objective performance measures may be average, other more subjective factors might rank Weston more highly. Those other factors contribute to Weston school excellence, both in fact and perception – among parents, other residents, and beyond. Families considering whether to move into town consider these perceptions, in particular, to help them decide whether the quality of our schools is worth the much higher cost of living in Weston. Consequently, those perceptions ultimately help drive our real estate values and appreciation, which for some years has been lagging.

So how are Weston’s schools perceived outside of town? For many years, the primary source of ranking data was Boston Magazine. Every September, they published school rankings of all Boston area schools, alternating years between overall school districts and the district high schools. For many years, Weston was ranked Number 1, not just high on the list, but the best. This changed in 2013, when the annual Boston Magazine ranking dropped Weston High School from number 1 to number 11. The following year, U.S. News and World Report listed Weston High School as “unranked”, in other words, not even making their annual list of the best high schools in the United States.

A June 2014 analysis by the Weston High School AP Statistics class concluded that, while Boston Magazine would not divulge its precise methodology, the drop apparently traced to changes in methodology, now focusing on factors less favorable to Weston. The changes included the weighting of average class size, percentage of students attending college, and the percentage of students passing the Advanced Placement exams. The weight ascribed to total per-pupil spending per se, where Weston far exceeds other districts, was also apparently reduced.

The key issue with U.S. News and World Report was their higher value placed on actual AP test scores, rather than the larger percentage of Weston students taking AP tests relative to other school districts. Note, however, that Lexington also has a high AP participation rate, but with higher scores than Weston.

Boston Magazine and U.S. News still rank schools, but have been joined by Newsweek’s rankings of the best STEM high schools, and websites such as Niche.com and SchoolDigger.com. Niche.com rankings are “based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more.” SchoolDigger.com relies primarily on the MCAS test scores released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. They then use these MCAS scores to calculate an Average Standard Score, by normalizing and averaging each school's test scores across all tests and grades.

As shown in the three accompanying charts, among the most comparable affluent neighboring communities, Weston’s overall district ranking is now in the top half of the Boston Magazine, Niche.com and SchoolDigger.com rankings. These charts reflect the most recent years available and exclude less comparable schools and districts, so the rank numbers are not consecutive. Weston’s elementary and middle schools are highly ranked by Niche.com and SchoolDigger.com, with the Field School ranked number 1 in the state by Niche.com and the Middle School ranked number 2 (Niche.com) and number 4 (SchoolDigger.com). Weston High School rankings are more average among the comparable peer group of high schools.

Do these rankings matter? School Committee chair John Henry thinks not, having said that these rankings do not reflect reality and are just published to sell magazines. Ironically, the implicit admission is the fact many people do care. Otherwise, why would they want to buy the magazines, and why would the magazines want to publish them? More to the point, if the School Committee’s job on behalf of Weston’s residents and students is to deliver a top-rated public education at a reasonable cost, are we getting that?

Perhaps your own answer to these questions is as much a mix of the objective data and the many other factors comprised in these rankings. But if you have read this far, these rankings seem to matter to you.

Coming back to the original question, are we getting what we are paying for? And does that matter to you?