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Updated December 6th, 2007
LCHS Ranked Among Nation's Top Schools
by U.S. News & World Report
By CHRISTINE HWANG
and ANNABEL LEE
The Outlook
La Cañada High School has
been ranked 95th out of more than
18,000 public high schools in the
nation by U.S. News & World
Report’s inaugural nationwide poll.
The high school rankings were
based on school students’ performance
on state tests, disadvantaged
students’ performance, and the
school’s success in providing the
college-level coursework. La
Cañada was among the top 100
schools to receive a gold medal.
U.S. News & World Report stated:
“What if you could take a snapshot
of each (school) and capture, at
a particular moment, what kinds of
students were enrolled there and the
caliber of the education provided
them? If you were to collect these
individual snapshots into one huge
national yearbook, which high
school would be chosen as ‘Most
Likely to Succeed,’ meaning that it
set the best example of how to prepare
students to achieve their postgraduation
goals?
In the magazine’s first-ever
ranking of America’s Best High
Schools, its staff used a formula
produced in collaboration with
School Evaluation Services, a K-12 data research and analysis business
run by Standard & Poor’s. “We put
high schools in 40 states through a
three-step analysis,” U.S. News &
World Report said. “First, we measured
how each school’s students performed
on state tests, adjusting for
student circumstances. We next evaluated
how well each school’s disadvantaged
students did. Finally, we
looked at whether the school was
successful in providing college-level
coursework.”
The 100 schools that did the best
in this analysis earned gold medals,
with the next 405 schools being
awarded silver medals.
La Cañada High School scored
58.7 under the “college readiness”
category and 3.5 on “exams per test
taker.” By comparison, San Marino
High School, which has previously
been ranked No. 1 in the state on
API exams, was 82nd nationally
with scores of 60.4 (college readiness)
and 3.3 (exams per test taker).
“I was really pleased,” said
LCHS Principal Dr. Damon Dragos. “This report looks at a lot
of the things we look at, including
passage rate of A.P. exams and
graduation rate. It gives an accurate
picture. It’s nice to see that they are
seeing the same things as we are.
“I would like to credit our kids.
Without them, this would be impossible.
They are energetic and enthusiastic.
Also, their parents are
incredibly supportive and I have a
great staff.
“It’s not too shabby being
ranked 95th out of 18,000,” said Dragos, who is in his third year as
LCHS principal.
Thomas Jefferson High School
in Alexandria, Virginia, was ranked
No. 1 in the poll, with scores of 100
(college readiness) and 6.52 (exams
per test taker). The top-ranked
school in California, Pacific
Collegiate Charter in Santa Cruz,
scored 100 and 4.9, respectively.
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U.S. News & World
Report Rankings
(California high schools)
School (Location) Score
2. Pacific Collegiate, Santa Cruz ......100.0
4. Oxford Academy, Cypress............100.0
10. Preuss School, La Jolla ...............95.8
12. Whitney, Cerritos .......................93.1
21. Calif. Math & Science, Carson........6.0
31. Animo Leadership, Inglewood.......77.5
36. University High, Fresno................76.4
49. Mission San Jose, Fremont...........71.1
Others included:
82. San Marino, San Marino...............60.4
95. LA CAÑADA HIGH.........................58.7 |
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