Seven Long Beach Unified School District schools were named on an annual list released by The Washington Post that ranks the nation’s most challenging high schools.
Wilson High School, Millikan High School, California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Long Beach Polytechnic High School, Lakewood High School, Renaissance High School and Avalon School all made the list for the second consecutive year.
“Our high schools deserve this national recognition,” said LBUSD Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser in a press release. “Their consistent focus on college and career preparation is paying off for thousands of students and their families. Congratulations to everyone in our school communities whose hard work makes these impressive results possible.”
The list ranks the top 9% (out of 22,000 public high schools nationally) on their ability to offer rigorous college preparatory courses and even places them in an index that divides the number of advance placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests by the number of graduating seniors. It also shows the percentage of students who qualified and applied for subsidized lunches at each campus to give an idea of the general poverty that faces each institution.
2013 was a banner year for LBUSD as it was recognized by multiple outlets for its excellence in education not only locally but also nationally and globally. The district was listed as one of the world’s five best school systems by Batelle for Kids and CAMS was honored for having the 618th highest SAT scores out of 2,000 nationally ranked schools. This year’s rankings reaffirm LBUSD’s track record of being one of the most consistently respected districts in the nation.
Area high schools’ national ranks and subsidized lunch percentages and Challenge Index in parenthesis. An index score of 1.000 means an equal ratio of college level tests to graduating seniors.
1,028- Wilson (57%, 2.122)
1,099- Millikan (55%, 2.025)
1,102- California Academy of Mathematics and Science (52%, 2.020)
1,530- Poly (63%, 1.573)
1,867- Lakewood (53%, 1.206)
1,872- Renaissance (62%, 1.200)
1,882- Avalon (71%, 1.192)
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