Challenge Index delayed, a bit

My apologies to anyone I told (including readers of this week's Thursday Local Living section) to expect the new Challenge Index rankings of Washington area high schools on Jan. 25. We are going to save them for Monday Feb. 1 so that our new higher education blog can launch this Monday. The higher ed blog is hot and new. The Challenge Index is a stately, if somewhat controversial, pillar of the community, having been on this Web site since its beginnings. It will be happy to wait, and build the suspense. Some surprising schools have taken great leaps to the top rungs of the list this time. Stay tuned.

Read Jay's blog every day at http://washingtonpost.com/class-struggle.