http://www.walletpop.com/specials/us-news/best-high-schools?icid=100214839x1214131579x1200935689

Don't ask me how U.S. News and World Reports got to be such a voice on the subject of academic excellence, but here they are, with their rankings of the 25 best public high schools. The good news? Yes, there was actually a Detroit-area high school on the list. The bad news? There's only one Detroit-area high school on the list. And none of the ones I work for. I suppose that's really kind of a wash, then. Most of the good schools, however, are in Texas, California, Washington and New Jersey, of all places. On the upside, they're gauging on real factors of student success. A lot of the success message, at least as I saw it in a brief scan of the story here, is that it takes focus, and a genuine willingness to want to succeed. No question from me on that one, I coulda told you that. The big question is, what's it gonna take to get the desire to succeed to spread?