Famous for its rankings of US colleges and universities, US News & World Report will expand its ranking systems to assess public and private elementary and middle schools across the nation, further putting meaningless numbers to tens of thousands of schools around the country.
While ranking roughly 1,500 of the nation’s 4,000 colleges has some merit as students research to determine which schools meet their needs, the validity of grading the schools five- to fifteen-year-olds go to is less useful because the students rarely travel outside their hometown to go to school.
Like their high school rankings, which draws the attention from curious parents and administrators, the criteria for ranking elementary schools will depend on standardized test scores based on individual state requirements and goals.
It’s unknown if the rankings will take into account student input, like how fun recess is or if the chicken fingers served in the cafeteria are crunchy enough.