Dive Brief:

• Newsweek on Monday unveiled its annual Top High Schools list, though this year's rankings come with a twist: two lists.
• The decision to release two lists was a result of many impressive, high-poverty schools not getting the credit they deserved with just one list.  
• The "Absolute" list is a definitive ranking of America's top high schools, many of which have low poverty levels, while the "Relative" list includes schools that "beat the odds" by performing better than statistically expected given their socio-economic obstacles.  

Dive Insight:

Bravo to Newsweek for recognizing how poverty affects schooling, and for making efforts to acknowledge the disadvantages some schools are working to overcome. No, the schools on the "Relative" list may not have the best test scores, but they are making strides and working to prepare their students for college and beyond. Newsweek's decision reflects a more popular trend in recent years to acknowledge poverty. In 2010, during the height of education reform rhetoric (i.e., "Teaching As Leadership", "No Excuses," and Waiting For 'Superman'), there was much emphasis on the role of teachers in a classroom and little recognition of the effects of poverty. The "No Excuses" approach basically said poverty couldn't be used as an excuse for the achievement gap. It would appear, however, that more people are starting to realize poverty, and the challenges and obstacles that come with growing up in a high-risk environment, must be recognized.