Survey: LI high schools among nation's top
A file photo of Jericho High School. (Dec. 5, 2008) Credit: Newsday, 2008 / Ana P. Gutierrez
Two of every five public high schools on Long Island rank among the nation's best in terms of giving students access to advanced courses, a new survey finds.
Of 115 public high schools on the Island, 49 schools, or 43 percent, appear in the latest "High School Challenge" listing published Thursday by The Washington Post. The annual list appeared in Newsweek magazine until the Post sold the magazine last year.
Local educational leaders Friday cited the survey's results as evidence that taxpayers get their money's worth. On Tuesday, voters in the Island's 124 school districts approved a combined total of more than $10 billion in school spending.
"Long Islanders put a large investment in their schools, and they're seeing the results of that investment," said Lorna Lewis, the East Williston superintendent. The district's Wheatley School ranks 95th among the nation's top 100 in the "Challenge" survey.
Other local schools in the top 100 are Jericho High (76), South Side High (85) in Rockville Centre, Manhasset High (96) and John L. Miller-Great Neck North High (99).
The "Challenge" ranks schools by taking the total number of advanced tests given each year and dividing by the number of graduating seniors. Testing programs used include Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge Advanced International.
To qualify for the listing, schools have to achieve a mathematical ratio of 1.00 -- meaning they administered as many advanced tests in spring 2010 as they had graduates. Scores on those tests are not factored in, an omission some academic critics view as a weakness of the methodology.
The latest list includes 1,910 schools, or about 7 percent of the total nationwide.
According to the Post, the highest concentration of listed schools is in Washington, D.C., and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs. Seventy-five percent of that area's schools are listed.
Another cluster is on the Island, where high schools from throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties made the list. Bay Shore High School was the last Long Island school on the list at spot 1,784.
"We'll go higher next year," said Evelyn Holman, the Bay Shore superintendent.
