The Challenge Index is a method for the statistical ranking of top public and private high schools in the United States, created by The Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews.
The ranking is determined by the extent of availability of the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs in the school's curriculum and the number of graduating seniors.
Their 2006 paper, "Challenged Index"[1] showed how many schools that are among the top 100 nationally, according to Newsweek, actually have high dropout rates and wide gaps in achievement separating students by race and income.
[3] The editors, primarily Jay Mathews, defend their ratings by citing recent studies by U.S. Department of Education senior researcher Clifford Adelman.
[4] In 1999 and 2005, Adelman showed that the best predictor of college graduation was not good high-school grades or test scores, but whether or not a student had an intense academic experience in high school.