2011 Best High School Rankings Released By Newsweek

The School of Science and Engineering Magnet in Dallas resembles most high schools these days: Legislature threatens huge budget cuts, teachers face pink slips and 62 percent of the students qualify for subsidized lunch. Amid these challenges, however, students work hard to earn their success, steering their school to the No. 1 spot on Newsweek's annual list of America's Best High Schools.

The magnet school's wide-ranging accomplishments helped earn the accolade, as the study broadened its metric measurements for success this year. In the past, the ranking of top schools focused on AP tests taken per graduate -- and that was it. This year, the new criteria for the 1,100 schools that supplied internal data included graduation rate, college matriculation rate, AP tests taken per graduate, average SAT/ACT scores, average AP/IB scores and AP courses offered per graduate.

Last year, the School of Science and Engineering Magnet's senior class of 86 students graduated and headed to college with offers of more than $9.7 million in scholarships, according to the school's website.

The magnet school tells Newsweek it seeks to maintain its successful system despite challenges.

"Our major goal is to continue with the standard of service we've provided for years and years," says Principal Jovan Wells.

In addition to study metrics, Newsweek also expanded its consulting board. This year, the study asked Teach For America, Open Education Solutions and a Stanford professor of education to help develop the criteria to measure a school's ability to prepare students for both college and life.

Besides the on-paper accomplishments and honors the School of Science and Engineering Magnet has received, Wells also attributes the School of Science and Engineering's success to its tight-knit environment.

"This is more of a family atmosphere."

See the full list of America's Best High Schools at NEWSWEEK.

Comments

[William Diaz]

09:25 AM on 06/24/2011

The sad thing is that despite the country being in 2 and a half wars currently, more of these children who represent our 'best and brightest' are going to college and not offering to serve in the Armed Forces. I would much rather see a college matriculation rate of 90% and a 5-10% enlistment rate.

According to the methodology used in this survey, any highschool in the district of a particularly persuasive or perceptive recruiter would be severely penalized in their 'quality' assessment.

If you want to know what is wrong with America, thats it in a nutshell. The things that made this country great, the sense of shared purpose, shared achievement and shared sacrifice are largely gone. The rich have won and we judge success and failure by meaningless metrics and stupidly constructed predictive models. I would love to meet the person who constructed the analytical model and the sampling method.

Sen James Webb (D-Va) is my idea of what an American and a patriot are. I would vote for him regardless of his political affiliation, he has been both parties, but what he really is, is noble. His son served and Sen Webb declined to shake the President's hand.

Have a great day!

[mayabelle1107]

02:52 PM on 06/22/2011

figued as much

[mayabelle1107]

02:50 PM on 06/22/2011

I went to a private school and learned paleontology and anthropology and received a 5.2 grade average based on the college/high school scale.
These kids today don't even know what an electrons purpose is, or who is the speaker of the house. My school was 17 k per year. A lot, I know. I just found out, in the lowest and slowest district in my county, the taxpayer pays on average 24 k for them to go to school and graduate an illiterate. If there's nothing wrong with our education system, spend a day in the ghetto and let me know what you think...

[Powerwalt]

03:51 PM on 06/22/2011

Was that a racist statement?

[KitchenCabinet]

02:37 PM on 06/22/2011

Nobody wins until all our schools are best.

[Emtnest]

02:19 PM on 06/22/2011

Folks, the list is missing lots of schools because they did not give the schools enough time to provide the information requested. Apparently they gave the schools a month to answer their questions and lots of schools didn't send the info back in time. Jay Matthews/Washington Post wrote about this in his column. The list only reflects the schools who sent their information back to Newsweek in time to make the publication date of this list. That is why there is not TJ or Stuyvesant etc. etc. etc.

[muenft]

02:12 PM on 06/22/2011

the "barrack obama school for socialism and the leftist way" scored higher than all the rest as judged by the left wing huffington press and left wing newsweek ..who knew?!

[Threadsline]

01:40 PM on 06/22/2011

What's wrong with putting all the schools on Wheel of Fortune and see who wins? jk

[altheschrod]

11:08 AM on 06/22/2011

Instead of reporting on the BEST High schools, why not use the study money toward making the WORST ones better?

[360Dunk]

09:45 AM on 06/22/2011

My west coast school didn't make the list, but if there was a category for 'easiest school to score a dime bag of pot', we would have been in the top ten.

[bemahuron]

09:36 AM on 06/22/2011

I had a blast in High School. As a result, I was a proud member of the half of my graduating class that made the top half possible.

[dlaroche]

09:26 AM on 06/22/2011

Here's what I see... This looks like a real limited way to assess the success of a high school education... Also, I suspect that these schools may be playing with stats just like the colleges and universities do to get on the Newsweek lists. One other observation... Why are there so few (if no) private or parochial schools on this list? It has nothing to do with quality of the education, but how limited stats are interpreted and made available to the press. BTW, I have a tough time swallowing the fact that some states have no schools in this list?? Could this list have a regional biased just based on the stats used? Seems like that to me!! Don't trust the list... Just see how many parents want their high school students in your school. Find out the local opinion of people about your school... This will give you a good understanding of a school...

[garyj100]

09:03 AM on 06/22/2011

56% of the top 25 schools are located in the South.
50% of the top 50 schools are located in the South.

Go Dixie!

[Powerwalt]

03:56 PM on 06/22/2011

Indeed------the % would even be higher if we could make the yankees stay up north.

[William Diaz]

07:31 AM on 06/24/2011

Its not that 'Southern' schools are awesome, because they arent. The South is a huge idiot factory and the educational isntitutions are the factory floor.

The South is on the top because the methodology used to construct the list is deeply and perhaps fatally flawed. Fairfax County is is the South as well and probably has one of the overall best school districts in the country, but doesnt it seem odd they arent here at all?

Knowledge is power, which is why the South, the GOP and Fox hope to keep you ignorant.

Have a great day!

[garyj100]

09:05 AM on 06/24/2011

Just can't stand it!...the little 11 state South beats all regions of the country!
Here is something else you're going to hate...if the South were a seperate nation, it would be the second wealthiest nation on earth per GDP..richer than China and Japan (Source CIA Factbook).
Knowledge is power, which is why the DNC and the AP-ABC-CBS-CNN-NBC-NYT news network keeeps you ignorant!... and this really is going to keep you awake tonight: The South HAS risen again!

[SangZe]

08:41 AM on 06/22/2011

This is just another skewed and worthless list designed to sell magazines to the proles.

[solid centrist]

08:39 AM on 06/22/2011

We can argue over the criteria used to rank the high schools. However, high schools making this list are indisputably among the best in the country. What deeply concerns me is that so many of the schools on the list (including 5 in the top 21) are in my home state of Texas. We have a "guv'ner" that is a bigger goober than his predecessor GW Bush. Rick Perry is messing badly with school funding, and espousing the head-in-the-sand evangelical bible-thumper approved textbook lists. If Perry and his army of fools have their way, Texas school kids will be taught that Jesus rode his dinosaur to the battle that smote all nonbelievers at the temple. Of course, this event occurred only a few years after the world and everything in it were created. There will be no need for science classes that teach blasphemy. The teaching of foreign languages would be unAmerican, and encourage more illegal immigrants to invade the state.

[solid centrist]

12:55 PM on 06/22/2011

The good old days when Ann Richards (a teacher) was governor are long gone since the regressive brand of Texas RepubliCAN'Ts mounted their own jihad to eliminate free thinking in state and local politics.

[kejavas]

08:05 AM on 06/22/2011

Out of the top 12, red states are dominant 9-3

[astro314]

08:08 AM on 06/22/2011

does this have to be political too?

[solid centrist]

10:17 AM on 06/22/2011

YES! The politicians and evangelicals are screwing with our kids' education. So, this is definitely political.

[William Diaz]

07:28 AM on 06/24/2011

Thats why it is obvious that the methodology is wrong, that shouldnt be the case by a long shot...

Have a great day!