Newsweek’s ‘Best High Schools list’ has plenty from California
Posted in Program innovation
More than one out of six – about 18 percent – of public high schools on this year’s list of Newsweek’s “best high schools” are from California. They make up 285 of the 1,663 schools on the list, which comprise 6 percent out of America’s 27,000 high schools. Ten California high schools made the top 100, including four charter high schools.
The top three are Oxford Academy (#11) in Cyprus, a school for the academically gifted that requires an entrance exam; and two charter schools: Preuss (#16), which is affiliated with the UC-San Diego and consists totally of low-income students, and Pacific Collegiate (#19) in Santa Cruz, whose low-income students comprise only 3 percent of the student body.
“Best” is subjective, difficult to measure and disputable in many instances. In Newsweek’s case, it is narrowly defined as those schools that score high on the Challenge Index, the ratio of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests given at a school each year divided by the number of graduating seniors. Those that score 1.0 or greater – the number of tests taken exceed the number of graduates – make the list.
The Challenge Index’s creator, Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews, argues that the index is a simple and transparent indicator of excellence, if not also equity. He points to studies showing that students who take an AP or IB course experience the rigor of a college course and are
The top three are Oxford Academy (#11) in Cyprus, a school for the academically gifted that requires an entrance exam; and two charter schools: Preuss (#16), which is affiliated with the UC-San Diego and consists totally of low-income students, and Pacific Collegiate (#19) in Santa Cruz, whose low-income students comprise only 3 percent of the student body.
“Best” is subjective, difficult to measure and disputable in many instances. In Newsweek’s case, it is narrowly defined as those schools that score high on the Challenge Index, the ratio of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests given at a school each year divided by the number of graduating seniors. Those that score 1.0 or greater – the number of tests taken exceed the number of graduates – make the list.
The Challenge Index’s creator, Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews, argues that the index is a simple and transparent indicator of excellence, if not also equity. He points to studies showing that students who take an AP or IB course experience the rigor of a college course and are
