Students compete to succeed in metro area’s top high school

At Northview High, students are put in a competitive academic environment that educators say gets results.

Students push each other to take more advanced placement classes and get better grades. In exchange, they’re given freedoms such as cellphone privileges during lunch period.

The Fulton County school, in the affluent city of Johns Creek, was the top-performing traditional public high school among 15 school districts in metro Atlanta in 2013, according to the Georgia Department of Education’s evaluation released Monday.

Principal Paul Brannon said students are expected to meet difficult academic challenges, and then the school provides tutoring and extra access to teachers so students can prosper if they make the effort.

“Students here are so used to competition and outdoing each other,” said Marri Kang, a junior.

With a student body that’s 46 percent Asian, 43 percent white and 11 percent black, students learn from their various backgrounds to create a school culture that’s focused on achievement, Brannon said.