NOVA brag - ALL Fairfax Cty. High Schools make Newsweek's List of Top HS in US (Arlington: 2009, top schools)

[Fairfax Mom]

All Fairfax County High Schools Make Newsweek's List of Top High Schools in U.S.

All Fairfax County high schools* have been designated among the most demanding public schools in the country and are featured in the 2009 Newsweek-Washington Post list of 1,478 top U.S. high schools, found at Newsweek - National News, World News, Health, Technology, Entertainment and more... | Newsweek.com. The 1,478 schools represent the top six percent of high schools nationwide.

Two Fairfax County public schools made the list of top 100 schools published in Newsweek, based on a formula devised by Washington Post education reporter Jay Mathews. In the top 100 are Woodson High School, ranked 71st, and Langley High School at 100.

Rankings for other Fairfax County Public Schools are: Lake Braddock Secondary School, 106; McLean High School, 112; Centreville High School, 129; Fairfax High School, 131; Chantilly High School, 134; Oakton High School, 155; Marshall High School, 157; Herndon High School, 164; South County Secondary School, 174; Westfield High School, 190; Falls Church High School, 196; Madison High School, 197; West Springfield High School, 258; West Potomac High School, 265; Stuart High School, 279; Robinson Secondary School, 296; Hayfield Secondary School, 499; South Lakes High School, 558; Edison High School, 771; Lee High School, 785; Annandale High School, 966; and Mount Vernon High School, 1168.

The Challenge Index measures public high schools’ ability to challenge their students. A school’s ranking is determined by dividing the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Cambridge tests given by a school to all its students by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June. The index is designed to identify schools that challenge average students.

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[mpascal]

[SIZE=3]We're also proud that all four Arlington Public Schools high schools were ranked in the top one-half percent of high schools in the United States. [/SIZE]

[springfieldva]

Wow - they ALL made it! That is just outstanding.

[Tone509]

Wow, that's incredible news!

Well, this may just put to bed the debate about the quality of Fairfax County high schools... unless of course you're aspiring for your kids to get in, say, Harvard instead of "just" Boston College.

Congrats to Arlington as well!

[ajzjmsmom]

Okay noone throw anything at me but for someone who is moving to NOVA later in the year and considering living in Woodbridge it was nice for me to see their high schools made the top 1000. Considering we only have 4 schools in NM that made it and ours wasn't one. Granted the Woodbridge schools didn't rank as high as the Fairfax and Arlington county schools but they did rank.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by Tone509

Wow, that's incredible news!

Well, this may just put to bed the debate about the quality of Fairfax County high schools... unless of course you're aspiring for your kids to get in, say, Harvard instead of "just" Boston College.

Congrats to Arlington as well!

It's certainly good news, but this particular methodology, as I understand it, focuses on the percentages of students at the schools who take AP or IB exams at year-end. As such, it measures whether the students are being "challenged" to take the "advanced classes." On the other hand, I'm not sure that the methodology measures how well the students actually do on those exams, which some might consider somewhat relevant as well. So it may be premature (wishful thinking?) to think the debate over the quality of the local schools will be put to bed any time soon.

[horseplayer]

Some schools pay for the kids to take the exams. I believe MCPS is one.

[michgc]

I also don't know if it shows how well these school educate students who are not in AP or IB classes.

[540_804]

Originally Posted by JEB77

It's certainly good news, but this particular methodology, as I understand it, focuses on the percentages of students at the schools who take AP or IB exams at year-end. As such, it measures whether the students are being "challenged" to take the "advanced classes." On the other hand, I'm not sure that the methodology measures how well the students actually do on those exams, which some might consider somewhat relevant as well. So it may be premature (wishful thinking?) to think the debate over the quality of the local schools will be put to bed any time soon.

Agreed. The ranking ratio is based on how many tests are given at the school divided by how many students...

They do include whats called an E&E score which shows how many students pass at least one of those tests, and this score often paints a different picture than the rankings...For instance, the number one school had the highest number of tests taken per student but the percentage of students who passed at least one test was only 65.2%

Woodson and Langely (both top 100) had E&E scores in the 70% area....which is not bad, but you would expect it to be higher for a top 100 school. Many of the other Northern VA schools are in the 30%-60% range (or lower)...so again, I think its bit misleading to call this a "America's Top Schools List"...

Think about this, if a school wants to raise its ranking, all it has to do is require that all students take the test, whether they pass or fail. Instant rating boost.

However, don't think im questioning the quality of NOVA schools. I've heard great things about them. Some of my college peers are products of NOVA schools and they are some of the best and brightest people I know.

[Alanboy395]

My first high school Tabb High out ranked ranked #714 and outranked 4 Fairfax County schools. (Yipee!) My other T.C. Williams ranked #804 and outranked 2 Fairfax County Schools.

Personally i dont feel this list is reliable. I just find it odd that Hampton HS which is the 3rd best in Hampton, VA gets on and the better schools in Bethel and Kecoughtan dont make it on.