In early December US News and World Report published its list of the "Best High Schools" in the United States.

There are 46 high schools in Washington that made a list out of 591 high schools in our state.

These high schools are then awarded either a Bronze, Silver, or Gold status. There is only one high school (Mt. Rainier) in South King County that has made this list, and it is a Bronze winner.

To be a Bronze winner you have to "perform better than statistical expectations" in the areas of achievement on the WASL in this state.

While 9.3 percent of high schools in the United States have made at least Bronze distinction, only 7.8 percent of Washington's schools could pass this muster. Sadly there are no schools in south Puget Sound that have made either Silver or Gold status. In order to make these lists your school has to do well on "College Readiness" and on either Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examinations. 2.7 percent of Washington's high schools can meet this criterion. Nationally the number meeting this criterion is 2.9 percent.

What does this tell us?

It tells me that we haven't taken scholarship all that seriously in south Puget Sound for sure.

It also casts serious doubt upon the education system in the entire state.

I would bet that this report isn't likely to be a topic for discussion at any school board meeting in any district that isn't on the US News and World Report list!

Perhaps the rest of the high schools in the state "have other priorities!" I know of at least one school board who, last year, felt that getting a "digital reader board" in front of the high school constituted a "long range plan" for improving their high school!

It is this kind of thinking by school boards, many administrators, and some of the taxpayers that causes Washington state's schools to be trivialized by college admissions counselors in many of the more competitive colleges in the nation.

There just doesn't seem to be a vision of excellence, or even betterment, shown. In other sections of the country the lack of achievement in schools brings out levels of civic concern that aren't to be found in the Northwest.

When I ask administrators and school board members to tell me about a school that they would aspire their school to be "more like," I get blank stares or examples that seem very much like the schools that they are associated with.

They, school board members and administrators, clearly haven't been looking at either Newsweek or US News & World Report's lists of what they think are quality high schools!

Let me assure you that college admissions counselors are among the very first to read these reports!

Why isn't Thomas Jefferson High School, in Federal Way, not more like Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax, VA? TJ, in Virginia, is the highest rated high school in the country!

There will be a lot of reasons, and excuses, for this from the responsible parties but most of this will distill down to "we would have to change the way we do business." "We would have to change the how we allocate resources and this would disturb our employees and parents." Yep! It sure would! Would it bring better opportunities to our children? I think so!

The other day I was talking to a parent who had two kids who did very well in one of our high schools. They took all of the AP courses and passed all of the exams. Because of this both of the kids were admitted into some of the most competitive colleges in the nation. The parent reported that their kids didn't feel like they had been as "well prepared" as many of their classmates for the rigor found in these two fine schools.

The parent went on to state, "There are high schools back east that prepare kids for competitive colleges!"

You betch'a! I have taught in some of them. Why aren't high schools here addressing this?

Could it be that they have made parents, and students, "comfortable" with something less? Are parents and students "comfortably numb?"

I read the other day that kids in our middle schools' Cambridge Program were electing not to continue with the program in high school because "it would be too hard." I am also aware of many parents and students who feel that the International Baccalaureate program is "too hard."

The consequences of these decisions are pretty high today, and probably getting higher as time goes by. Get an inferior education and the payback can be pretty severe!

It only takes will, not money, to improve schools in my opinion.