Overview
- New York withheld verified, school‑level Advanced Placement (AP) scores from US News & World Report for the 2026–27 rankings, leaving only International Baccalaureate (IB) results available and producing large rank changes.
- US News uses AP and IB reporting to calculate two measures that together count for 40% of a school’s score, so excluding AP data effectively gave AP‑heavy schools zeros for that portion and pushed some schools far down the list.
- Success Academy says its statewide rank plunged from near the top to 196th and filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan on Sept. 1 seeking to overturn the state’s ban on providing verified AP data to the public.
- The New York State Education Department says it blocked the College Board from sharing school‑level AP results to protect student privacy and called compliance with state privacy law non‑optional.
- Beyond the immediate legal fight, the dispute raises questions for families and colleges that rely on standardized comparisons, deepens partisan fights over charter schools and unions, and could change how performance and accountability data are shared going forward.