The Murphy Index: Exploring Alternative K–12 School Ranking Methodology

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Policy Development and Debate

Abstract

Using publicly available school level New York State Education Department data from 2015-2016, we propose an alternate school ranking methodology that may positively mitigate race and class biases in parents’ consideration of school quality. New York state collects school level data from 62 counties in the state, including 728 school districts for a total of 4,674 schools which were all included in this study. Five non-academic outcome variables were used to allow for nuanced understanding of schools that is often overshadowed by student test scores: attendance, suspension, teacher experiences, class size, and racial demographics. Findings demonstrate that the use of the Murphy Index, an index of non-academic proxy variables, can mitigate implicit biases of traditional school rankings.

Authors

• Justin Murphy, Gannett

• Joanne C. Larson, University of Rochester

• Nahoko Kawakyu O'Connor, University of Rochester