East Longmeadow, Longmeadow among best high schools in the United States, says Newsweek
Date: 5/9/2013
By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.comGREATER SPRINGFIELD — Newsweek released its 2013 rankings of the best high schools in the nation on May 6 and two area schools made the cut.
Longmeadow High School and East Longmeadow High School were ranked 413th and 590th, respectively, in the national publication and website's listing of the top 2,000 public high schools.
Longmeadow jumped more than 100 spots from its rank of 520 in the 2012 survey. East Longmeadow made the list after not being included in 2011 or 2012. Information on prior years was not available.
According to the website, a formula that includes six components — graduation rate (25 percent), college acceptance rate (25 percent), Advanced Placement (AP)/International Baccalaureate (IB)/Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT and ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course (5 percent) — is used to rank the public schools, including charter schools, magnet schools and schools with selective or lottery admission.
Longmeadow ranked 13th among Massachusetts schools and was the top Western Massachusetts school.
"It's nice to get the recognition," Longmeadow Principal Lawrence Berte said.
Neither Longmeadow or East Longmeadow were ranked in U.S. News and World Report's annual survey, which was also recently released, but Berte stated his belief that the Newsweek ranking was one of the more accurate representations of the school's effectiveness because of the wide range of criteria it drew from.
"There are several of these lists, but I think it's especially important that this one recognizes students for their work in a variety of areas. It takes into account test scores and advanced placement, but also the hard work of all the students through things like graduation rates and college acceptance rates," he said, pointing out that while the school's AP test scores went down, its ranking went up, illustrating Newsweek's emphasis on multiple factors in compiling its list.
Berte added that the Longmeadow High School staff prides itself on utilizing a broad curriculum to prepare students for what he called "the post-secondary experience."
"This is a testimony to our program of studies," he said. "We encourage kids to take a wide range of courses and demand that they take a full load of classes and most kids are taking six or seven courses. We want to diversify their experiences while here at the high school."
East Longmeadow was 19th in the state and second in Western Massachusetts.
East Longmeadow High School Principal Gina Flanagan said the survey's focus on students moving on to higher education reflected significant steps the staff has made in emphasizing skills necessary to thrive outside of the school.
"Academically the last couple of years we have really emphasized 21st century learning skills, including critical thinking, collaboration and technology," she said. "We've also improved services with our career center and the work of all of our councilors. We really stress the importance of having a plan."
Flanagan added that hosting its first on-site college fair last year has helped engage students' interest in higher education.
She also expressed pride in the school's high graduation rate, stating that in addition to strong academic programs, the school's support system for struggling students has played a major role.
"The graduation rate is something I am really proud of," she said. "We have made a lot of progress in helping students who may be having problems early on by identifying those problems. While still serving other students, we have been able to target kids with higher needs in order to develop a plan for them to succeed."
