Hey @BostonMagazine, I fixed your "Best Public High Schools in Boston" list.

(Thread)

Here's your webpage: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/education/best-public-high-schools-boston-2020-chart/

Let's start with the title. I suggest: "These Are the High Schools with the Highest Test Scores (and We Know Almost Nothing Else about Them!)"

Also, you say "...in Boston."

But all of the schools on this list are in homogeneous white and affluent suburbs. That's not Boston.

So let's add "...in Wealthy Suburbs" to the title.

Ok...onward!

You say: "Thankfully, one thing you can always count on is our Top Schools chart.'

I think you mean: "Unfortunately, we are desperate enough for ad dollars that we will attract eyeballs at any cost."

Just spit-ballin' here.

You say you are "crunching the numbers in a variety of categories"

I think you mean: You are skimming available information and adding zero value to what is already in the state's database.

You might add: "Unlike us, the state doesn't rank-order. Because that's unethical!"

(It's unethical because: a) You don't know that these are actually the components of a good school; b) The differences between schools may be trivial; c) Rank-ordering frames at least half of schools as "below average," even if they're good schools... etc. etc. You get it!)

OK OK this part is the best.

"Sort by what matters most to you—SAT scores, class size, AP participation, and more."

Lol Boston Magazine. You're the funniest.

Yeah, yeah...I'm trying to figure out how my kid's school is doing. And what matters MOST to me is...

AP participation!

No. Wait. It's SAT scores!

I'm nearly crying I'm laughing so hard.

There is a lot of research on what matters to people in education. And because you are unable to measure it, you should not have made this website.

But who am I to say? (BTW you might read by book Beyond Test Scores.)

Sorry I'm not done with this line ("Sort by what matters most to you—SAT scores, class size, AP participation, and more.")

And more!

More = MCAS (math), MCAS (science), MCAS (ELA)... Lol "more."

Here's where you really go off the rails: Each metric is sortable via a single click. I can rank-order top-to-bottom... OR bottom-to-top.

So let's see: why would you allow me to do that? Is it so I can get a deep and holistic sense of these schools?

No. This is unethical school-shaming that stigmatizes the institutions that serve the least advantaged.

Let's rank-order, bottom-to-top, MCAS reading scores (PS I hate you for this)...

Oh surprise!

It's Boston International High School!

*checks notes*

Boston International a high school specifically designed to serve a diverse student body of English Learners.

You morons.

I have to stop. I'm angry and I haven't fed my kid breakfast.

I'll end by saying, simply, that whoever made this page should feel bad and take it down.

END