I am a firm believer in -- you can make numbers look just about any way you want them to look. Statistics can be "manipulated" and facts can be omitted. NOT EVERYTHING that makes a school can be measured.
That said, what people are referring to is a ranking that came out this summer from US News and World Report. All high schools in the state were ranked based upon a matrix that they created. More on that in a minute. In that ranking, Tipton High School ranked #135. 135 out of 490 high schools would put our high school in the top 30%. Tri-Central was ranked #39, earning them a top 3% rating from that organization.
The ranking system they used (according to Google):
- Eligibility: Schools must have a 12th-grade enrollment of 15 or more students and sufficient state assessment data.
- Scoring: The US News Best High Schools methodology calculates weighted scores across six core indicators, reflecting a school's performance on a national percentile basis.
- College Readiness (30%): Measured by the proportion of 12th-grade students who took and earned qualifying scores on college-level Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams.
- State Assessment Proficiency (20%): Evaluates how well students scored on state reading, mathematics, and science assessments compared with the state benchmark.
- State Assessment Performance (10%): Assesses whether student performance on state tests exceeded expectations based on state averages and demographics.
- Underserved Student Performance (10%): Analyzes the math and reading test scores of Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged student subgroups against state norms.
- College Curriculum Volume (10%): Looks at the breadth of a school’s college-level curriculum by counting the percentage of 12th graders who took multiple AP or IB exams.
- Graduation Rate (20%): Based on the proportion of entering 9th-grade students who graduated on time with a high school diploma.
Let's refer back to what I said at the beginning - numbers can be manipulated and facts omitted. Administrators here are boasting that the Class of 2026 had a 100% graduation rate. There is a huge missing fact in that statement. 100% --- AS OF WHEN!?! As of their Freshman year? As of January, 2026? As of WHEN!? If this was as of August 2022 when that class entered high school, THAT IS A HUGE ACCOMPLISMENT that should be shouted from rooftops!
As far as the ranking from US News and World Report -- there are a lot of qualities NOT SHOWN when you look at just a matrix system and there are a lot of factors that can't be "measured". I believe, and I have believed for a very long time that the education our students receive is of high quality taught by educators that do their job exceptionally well. Could we do a better job? OF COURSE WE COULD! I would say the high school ranked #1 in the state (Signature School in Evansville...a public charter school) is always trying to improve. If I didn't think Tipton offered a high quality education, I wouldn't have sent my children here. Both of my children attended Tipton Community School Corporation from kindergarten through 12th grade because I strongly believe in our school system. Assuming a Board member lived here when their children were of school age, you should expect that those children attended our school corporation from K-12. Otherwise, why would you be a Board member of a PUBLIC school?
A more important measure of a high school to me: HOW READY ARE GRADUATES FOR THE NEXT STEP IN LIFE? I don't believe any school can prepare you for EVERYTHING. However, a top notch school should prepare students for the workforce, college, trade school, the military and living in/being a useful participant in society. I feel that TCSC does an outstanding job in that regard, however this measurement should be on going. We should be reaching out to graduates 1-2-3-4 years after graduation to get their feedback.