The Washington Post's annual list of most challenging U.S. high schools was just released. As usual, the top school in Georgia is the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology
Credit: Maureen Downey
Credit: Maureen Downey
For the past 17 years, the Post's education columnist Jay Mathews ranks schools on a “Challenge” index that considers the number of students attempting tough courses as measured by enrollment and test taking in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education courses.
In creating the index, Mathews sought to celebrate the schools that open their most rigorous curriculum to the greatest number of students. He writes in the Post:
That's progress, but not nearly enough. In one recent year, 300,000 students who showed readiness for AP based on their PSAT scores were denied a chance to take those courses, according to a College Board study. That waste of time and talent is rarely discussed in education conferences or political platforms.
The Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology ranked 26th out of 2,300 schools nationwide. The only other Georgia school in the top 100 nationwide is St. Andrew's, a private school in Savannah, which ranked 97th.
Coming in at 111th is Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, a public school in Augusta. Fulton County's Cambridge High School ranked 132, while Gwinnett's Meadowcreek High School ranked 140th.
Chatham's Savannah Arts Academy came in 164th, and Cobb's Walton High landed 176th.
While the ranking considers the number of AP, IB and AICE tests given, it doesn’t weigh how well the students do.
Mathews explains:
I decided not to count passing rates in this way because I found that many high schools kept those rates artificially high by allowing only top students to take the courses. AP, IB and AICE are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations. Research has found that even low-performing students who got a 2 on an AP test did significantly better in college than similar students who did not take AP.
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