It would be nice if Baltimore County did in fact have some of the nation's best secondary schools. But the methodology used by the Newsweek survey supporting that finding is seriously flawed.

The results, which should be taken with a grain of salt, only serve to reinforce the system-wide satisfaction with a mediocre status quo.

By basing its rankings of high schools on the number of Advanced Placement exams students take compared to the size of their graduating class, the Newsweek study completely ignores student performance. A school can foist multiple exams on unprepared students, but does this mean they are truly receiving a quality education?

As a recent Baltimore County public high school graduate, I know for a fact that many Baltimore County schools require all students who enroll in AP classes to take the concomitant exam.

A significant proportion of these students, who often are not screened for their aptitude or suitability prior to enrolling in AP classes, perform extraordinarily poorly.

Baltimore County schools have a lot to work on. Let this report not distract from that unfortunate fact.

Rob Solomon