Some missing data may be to blame for Barrington High School's drop in a national high school ranking.

According to an official at Newsweek Magazine, Barrington school officials failed to include college enrollment data while submitting an application for the magazine's "America's Top High Schools 2015."

The missing information may have played a role in the local school's drop from number 200 last year, which was the top rank for any high school in Rhode Island, to number 820 this year.

"Barrington HS reported the number of students accepted to college but we use the number of students enrolled in college as part of our rankings analysis, so we essentially had no data for this criterion, which is our most heavily weighted one," wrote Newsweek's Maria Bromberg in a recent email.

Ms. Bromberg said Newsweek officials, who partner with the research firm Westat, use a variety of data points while constructing the list of top U.S. high schools. She added that the rankings may also vary depending on which high schools submit information from one year to the next.

"Regarding the school's change in rank from last year, a key thing to note is that the ranking of schools each year is relative to the set of schools that participated in the survey in that given year," she wrote. "The variance in the sets of participating schools is a large part of the reason why a school's rank can change from year to year."

Still, the fall from 200 to 820 startled Barrington school administrators.

In fact, many top officials were anticipating a similar top ranking this year, especially considering the district's strong performance on standardized test scores (SATs, ACTs, APs and PSATs), the 94 percent graduation rate, and local students' marks on a highly-regarded international assessment.

"Nothing has changed in a negative way," said Barrington High School Principal Joe Hurley. "If anything, we've showed that our kids are performing even better."

Barrington students' scores on the recent round of SATs were the best in the state, and the district's Advanced Placement scores were also very impressive. Marks on both sets of assessments were very similar to the marks from a year earlier.

In addition, Mr. Hurley and Barrington schools curriculum director Paula Dillon were recently asked serve as presenters at a national conference for the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), which runs the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA. The test allows officials to compare and contrast student performance from countries all over the world.

Two years ago, Barrington students sat for the assessment and fared very well. This year, Barrington students' scores on the assessment were also very impressive, said Mr. Hurley.

"We did it in back to back years," said the principal, adding that the students' marks were part of the reason he and Ms. Dillon were asked to present. "I was really pleased with our performance."

But despite the scores on the recent international assessment, Barrington has still found itself much lower on the Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report high school rankings.

Mr. Hurley said he has reached out to other school officials to discuss the application omission and hopes to remedy the problem.

"It falls on my shoulders. I am the principal," he said, adding that officials in the guidance office also work on the application to Newsweek.

Initial response

Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore noticed the shift in rank about a month ago and searched for reasons for the drop. He initially believed the cause might be traced to the Rhode Island Department of Education's website — he said RIDE had listed the wrong graduation information for Barrington High School. The department has since corrected the problem.

After learning that the lower rank may have been due, in part, to the application error, Mr. Messore said he planned to talk to high school officials and address the problem.

"Our number one concern is providing the best education to our students," Mr. Messore said during a recent interview. "Any kind of accolade we get that comes with that territory is welcomed."

Mr. Messore said that the top rankings serve as a nice recognition for local teachers and administrators, "who work very hard each day." He added that top rankings also serve as a point of pride for the entire school district and the community.

Mr. Messore said he was not too concerned with the potential impact of the drop in ranking. He said people who are interested in learning more about Barrington schools — especially those folks who are considering moving to town — will study the specific assessment data and other information… not just a Newsweek or U.S. News and World Report ranking.

"People who do their homework, they're going onto the website and looking at state data scores," he said. "They dig into it. Parents do their homework. I don't care if you're investing in a million five house or a 225 house, they come here and know they're going to get good bang for their buck."