Yes it is. I was going to comment on the low precision of these rankings; but I opted for brevity. If the parents, teachers, and students believe that they’re improving — that can motivate them to strive for more. The usual reaction to these rankings is denial (or accusations of class-ism and racism, etc.) Celebrating a small victory is a big step forward (even if the “victory” is only an illusion — a statistical blip).
Well, this is embarrassing (blush).
I had just commented on this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3215586/posts
Then, I got your ping, and replied to it — thinking I was still in the other thread. Oh well, my first sentence applies to both threads.