Frederick County High Schools Rank Among Top

All Frederick County high schools have once again achieved a designation among the most demanding public schools in the country. All are featured in the Washington Post 2015 Challenge Index list, reflecting the top 11 percent of the nation’s 22,000 high schools.

“I am very proud of the hard work our students and teachers do taking on challenging courses. This is work that well prepares our graduates for success in college and greater career choices,” said FCPS Superintendent Terry Alban. “We always strive to provide the academic challenges that keep FCPS among America’s best schools and attract solid businesses to Frederick County.”

Urbana High had the highest ranking of FCPS high schools on the national index that ranks challenging schools. Urbana scored 3.294, ranking 24th statewide and 492nd nationally. Last year, Urbana also ranked highest in Frederick County, scoring 3.463, ranking 18th statewide and 348th nationally.

Challenge Index scores and rankings this year for other Frederick County public high schools are: Middletown (2.310) at 53rd statewide and 1,051st nationally; Frederick (1.939) at 67th statewide and 1,376th nationally; Linganore (1.858) at 75th statewide and 1,462nd nationally; Oakdale (1.716) at 82nd statewide and 1,597th nationally; Walkersville (1.579) at 93rd statewide and 1,741st nationally; Catoctin (1.549) at 94th statewide and 1,777th nationally; Tuscarora (1.346) at 104th statewide and 1,974th nationally; Brunswick (1.272) at 110th statewide and 2,058th nationally; and Gov. Thomas Johnson (1.129) at 119th statewide and 2,215th nationally.

The Challenge Index measures high schools’ ability to challenge their students with Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and/or Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) exams. A school’s rank is determined by dividing the number of college-level tests given at the school that year divided by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June. The index is designed to identify schools that challenge average students.

According to the Index’s author Jay Mathews, “1.00 is a modest standard. A school can reach that level if only half of its students take one AP, IB or AICE test in their junior year and one in their senior year. But this year, just 11 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools managed to reach that standard and earn placement on our list.”

Find out more at The Washington Post.