4:01pm | Eight Long Beach area high schools have been named as among the best in the United States by Newsweek magazine, according to the local school district.
The high schools within Long Beach Unified School District that made the list are the California Academy of Mathematics and Science as well as Wilson, Poly, Renaissance, Lakewood, Avalon, Millikan and Jordan high schools.
LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou said the district has never had so many schools make the magazine’s annual “America’s Top High Schools” listing.
The list names high schools from all 50 states that rank among the top 6 percent of public high schools schools nationwide. Newsweek determines what schools make the list based upon how hard school staffs work to challenge students with college-level courses and tests. It accomplishes this by taking the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge (AICE) tests given at a school each year and dividing by the number of seniors graduating in May or June.
Jordan joins the rankings list for the first time this year, Eftychiou said. The school district is crediting this accomplishment to the North Long Beach high school’s International Baccalaureate college preparation program. IB school courses are honored at the best universities throughout the world as indicative of what the school district described as “outstanding academic training.”
“Having eight of our high schools ranked within the top 6 percent in the nation even after we’ve cut more than $200 million over the past three years is a testament to the tenacity of our teachers, support staff, administrators, students and parents,” said LBUSD Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser in a statement.
“Clearly, there is something special going on in this school district,” the superintendent continued. “Unfortunately, this news comes during the same week that we’ve laid off nearly 800 employees due to the state’s continued fiscal mismanagement. Never has it been more clear that our state legislature is squandering California’s human capital by starving nationally recognized school systems like ours of precious resources.”
Eftychiou noted that LBUSD high schools surpass other well respected schools such as nearby Los Alamitos High School, even while LBUSD serves a more challenging student population. LBUSD’s California Academy of Mathematics and Science in Carson, Wilson Classical High School, Polytechnic High School, Renaissance High School for the Arts, Lakewood High School and Avalon School on Catalina Island all outrank Los Alamitos.
The percentage of disadvantaged students, or those receiving free or subsidized meals, is 45 percent at CAMS, 48 percent at Wilson, 63 percent at Poly, 59 percent at Renaissance, 46 percent at Lakewood, 61 percent at Avalon, 56 percent at Millikan and 98 percent at Jordan. By comparison, only 10 percent of students at Los Alamitos receive reduced-price or free lunches, according to the rankings list.
CAMS is the highest ranking school among those from LBUSD, coming in at No. 560. Wilson follows at No. 870, Poly at No. 1,055, Renaissance at No. 1,203, Lakewood at No. 1,316, Avalon at No. 1,347, Millikan at No. 1,482 and Jordan at No. 1,676, according to the rankings list.
The rankings list can be viewed in full by clicking here.