Evaluating Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools have taken more than their share of beatings in recent months, with the latest blow coming in the form of school closures of underperforming schools. Parents have protested the decision by school officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, saying children previously attending closed schools will now have to travel further and through dangerous neighborhoods to get to class every day. In hopes of countering some of those fears, Mayor Emanuel has followed the announcement of school closures with an announcement of a new safety program designed to keep kids safe in the classroom and the community.

The Unveiling of the New CompStat Safety Program

Last week, Mayor Emanuel unveiled the new safety program, which is modeled after the CompStat program first used in New York in 1994. According to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, the program is designed to hold law enforcement officers accountable and accurately analyze crime statistics in surrounding neighborhoods at weekly meetings. While this program was originally developed to enhance law enforcement throughout New York City, the model can also be easily customized to the school and community environment.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy participated in the New York CompStat program for seven years while serving as head of the crime strategy for the NYPD. Now, he brings his experience to the Chicago program in hopes of uniting law enforcement, education officials, and religious leaders in weekly accountability and strategizing sessions to keep Chicago kids safer. Through

College Board recently released its latest AP District Honor Roll, which features 367 school districts nationwide. These schools have shown improvements not only in enrollment in AP classes but also in the number of students who scored high enough on the exams to obtain college credit. The school districts on this list have shown a commitment to helping high-achieving students attain academic success and have broadened the options of these students in pursuing postsecondary education.

What is Advanced Placement?

According to the College Board website, the Advanced Placement program was designed to allow students to earn college credit while still in high school. The program currently boasts more than 30 college-level course options that include a cumulative exam at the end that enables students to receive college credit for the material covered. The AP program also shows college admissions boards that students can handle the rigors of a postsecondary curriculum.

Advanced Placement courses are recognized by more than 3,800 colleges and universities worldwide. This ensures that the students participating in these high school courses have many options after graduation. The ability to earn college credit while in high school can present significant cost savings on higher education and allow students to complete their degree programs at a much faster rate.

This video explains Advanced Placement.

About the Advanced Placement Honor Roll

To qualify for the annual Advanced Placement

There is no doubt that many high schools across the country have faced serious challenges in light of the current economic slowdown. With shrinking budgets and the pressures of standardized test scores, schools have made difficult decisions regarding staffing, programs, and resources. With attention to these circumstances, the annual ranking conducted by Newsweek made some significant changes to take the challenges into account. With an expanded advisory board and a wider range of criteria, the publication recently released its ranking of the top 500 high schools in America. We’ll examine the criteria used by Newsweek to make their choices and highlight some of the schools that made the top of the list this year.

In this TEDTalk, Elizabeth Daves peels back the layers of the practice of ranking students, exposes the negative impact that ranking has on those being ranked, and calls for a shift in mindset about what learning, and teaching, means.

How Best to Rank High Schools?

When Newsweek embarked on this project for the current year, it was no easy task. In previous years, the publication had ranked schools based solely on the number of AP tests taken by each graduate at the school, according to a report at the Huffington Post. This year, Newsweek wanted to focus less on mere achievement and more on the solutions high schools were using to ensure the

This article has been updated to reflect 2026 data and recent developments.

Closing the achievement gap remains one of the most urgent challenges in American public education. The term refers to persistent disparities in academic performance between groups of students, often defined by income level, race, ethnicity, and access to resources. While the gap has not disappeared, recent data and policy changes show measurable progress in several areas.

Public schools across the country are implementing targeted strategies that combine funding reforms, instructional innovation, and student support systems. These efforts, particularly since 2024, reflect a broader shift toward equity-driven education policy and>Understanding the Achievement Gap in 2026

Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that achievement gaps in math and reading narrowed slightly between 2022 and 2024, particularly in early elementary grades, though disparities persist in middle and high school levels. Pandemic-related learning loss continues to influence outcomes, but recovery efforts are beginning to show results.

Key trends shaping the current landscape include:

• Increased federal and state investment in high-need districts
• Expanded access to early childhood education
• Greater emphasis on data tracking and accountability
• Growth in targeted intervention programs

According to the NCES, students in high-poverty schools are still significantly less likely to meet proficiency benchmarks, reinforcing the need for sustained intervention.

Key Strategies Public Schools Are Using

1. Expanding Early Childhood Education

One of the most widely supported strategies for closing the achievement gap is investing in early learning. Research consistently shows that students who attend

Parents send their children to school every day in hopes that their kids will get a good education in a relatively safe environment. However, drug sales and gang activity often impact a student's ability to learn and feel comfortable in the place they spend the bulk of their time every day. While few argue that drugs and gangs have become a major problem in middle and high schools across the country, not everyone agrees what should be done. Some schools have brought in undercover officers who pose as high school students with the goal of routing out the guilty parties and removing them from the school environment. While the approach has proven successful, questions still remain about whether this is the right way to put a stop to illegal activity in public schools.

Undercover in Florida

In one of the biggest stings ever to hit public high schools, more than 30 people have been arrested in Palm Beach schools for selling drugs in an undercover operation dubbed "Operation D Minus." The students responsible for the drug sales were identified by undercover police officers who posed as students in the schools for the entire school year. These youthful officers were assigned to attend classes, eat lunch in the school cafeteria and even take tests with the other students, in hopes of discovering the root of the drug problem that had grown by monumental proportions among high school students in the area.

According to a report at