Viewpoint: School rankings obscure Annandale HS’s success

By Shawn DeRose, principal of Annandale High School

A member of the Annandale community recently asked me a tough question: Why do certain ranking websites rate Annandale High School low despite all of our recent success?

That question made me think of the movie “Moneyball.” In it, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) realizes baseball had been evaluating players using outdated metrics for generations, ignoring the data that revealed true impact.

We face the exact same challenge in education. The traditional way we evaluate schools is outdated.

Related story: Local schools’ performance varies on new state rating system

Standard rankings look at overall test scores, rank schools highest to lowest, and assume the top schools are the most effective. But overall scores don’t tell the whole story. In fact, one of the strongest predictors of a school’s overall test performance, even in FCPS, is its percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price meals (FRM).

As a school’s FRM rate increases, its overall pass rate tends to decrease. This doesn’t mean poverty determines student potential. It means students enter school with unequal access to resources and opportunities. When we rank schools solely by raw test scores, we aren’t ranking the quality of teaching or leadership. We are simply ranking student demographics.

Measuring what truly matters

Instead of just measuring where students finished, modern data allows us to measure how far a school helped them go.

By looking at the relationship between demographics and achievement, researchers can predict how a school is likely to perform and then compare that prediction with actual results.

Consider two schools:

• School A has a 92 percent pass rate, but was predicted to reach 94 percent.
• School B has a 71 percent pass rate, but was predicted to reach only 61 percent.

School A has the higher overall score, but School B exceeded expectations by 10 percentage points. Which school is making the bigger impact?

The true story of AHS

This is what makes Annandale’s results so extraordinary. Out of all 24 traditional high schools in Fairfax County, Annandale achieved the largest positive gap between actual and predicted performance across every single core subject: English, math, and science.

Our students aren’t just meeting expectations; they are outperforming traditional data at higher rates than any other school in our district. Moreover, this commitment to growth elevates every student. Since 2020, we have doubled the number of students earning the prestigious IB Diploma.

Annandale is taking students from every starting point and helping them reach unprecedented levels of success. That doesn’t happen by accident. It is the collective result of high-quality instruction, high expectations, targeted support, and a staff that refuses to place limits on any student’s potential.

Help us change the narrative

We will always care about proficiency. Every student deserves to meet and exceed state standards. But if we want to measure true school effectiveness, we must look at progress, growth, and opportunity.

The most effective schools aren’t always the ones with the highest test scores. They are the schools that consistently lift students above expectations.

Annandale is one of those schools.

The next time you hear someone mention online school rankings, challenge them to think differently by sharing our story with them.