Communications Arts High School ranks No. 26 in U.S.; Health Careers, Clark, and Jay also make Newsweek’s annual list
Communications Arts High School is among the best of the best. Newsweek magazine ranked the high school 26th in the nation in its annual report of the best public high schools in America.
Health Careers, Clark, and Jay high schools also made the list of "
Best High Schools 2008," ranking at No. 289, No. 560, and No. 762*, respectively. All four high schools made significant improvements in their rankings compared to last year.
High schools are rated based on the number of Advanced Placement tests taken by students.
Newsweek ranked a total of 1,355 high schools, which represent the top 5 percent of the nation's 27,000 public high schools, according to the magazine.
Communications Arts was the only high school in San Antonio to make the top 100. In addition, only four other high schools in Texas were ranked higher than Communication Arts.
"We've made a very specific effort over the past couple of years to increase the number of students taking AP classes and tests," Superintendent John Folks said. "It's gratifying to see our efforts have had an impact because AP courses and tests do a great job of preparing students for college."
The magazine ranks high schools by taking the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge tests given in 2007 and dividing that by the number of graduating seniors. All schools that achieved a ratio of at least 1.000 - which means there were an equal number of graduates and tests given - are listed on the Newsweek web site.
"...Teacher quality, extracurricular activities and other important factors are too subjective for a ranked list," Jay Mathews, Newsweek contributing editor, wrote in an article about the ranking, which he developed. "Participation in challenging courses and tests, on the other hand, can be counted, and the results expose a significant failing in most high schools - so far only 5 percent of the public high schools in the United States qualify for the Newsweek list."
Principals leading Northside's top-ranked schools are James Buchanan, Communications Arts; Jackie Horras, Health Careers; Stan Laing, Clark; and Gerardo Marquez, Jay.
*The rankings of the NISD schools on the list are subject to change as Newsweek continues to receive information from other schools.
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