We have been talking about what makes for a great high school. I was surprised when I first started writing my compiled list of America’s Best 100 high schools that is was missing some notable names. Where was Bronx Science, and Stuyvesant? My answer came soon enough as I continued my research. These “public elites” are deliberately left off of the list because so many of their students score significantly higher than average on SAT and ACT tests. While I don’t want to take the space necessary to high light what makes all of these schools so special, I thought I’d dedicate one blog to some of them. It seems to me that within many of our country’s best high schools there are several common denominators.
Students Will Rise to the Occasion
The very top of Neweek’s list of public elites immediately caught my attention. It is Ben Franklin Senior High School. It is considered the best high school in the country for the number of graduates who go on to highly selective colleges, for the number of National Merit Scholars there, and for the number of students who excel in academic competitions on the local, regional, and national level.
That’s not what caught my eye. Benjamin Franklin High School, the best high school in the country, is in New Orleans. If you read their mission statement and history, it talks about how people came together to rise over the adversity of Hurricane Katrina simply because a good education is important. These students, in adversity and in the classroom, are simply expected to rise–and they do.
Working With the Brightest
Although these schools are public schools, they all have very selective admissions processes. While some ultimately use a lottery to make the final decisions, all students have to take a test to get there. One advantage to exclusively working with the brightest students is that teachers don’t have to slow down to make sure everyone is on the same page, in a manner of speaking. However, many of us who educate in the city believe that the real advantage (at least here) is that students who are academically gifted don’t have to “dummy down” to fit in. For students, it gives them a safe haven where it is ‘cool’ to be smart.
One example is Bronx Science High School. Admissions is highly selective based on scores on a city wide test. The students who are accepted then have to take 4 years of science–biology, physics, chemistry and general, 4 years of math, foreign language, geography, English and a slew of electives. What they’re doing works because Bronx Science boasts 7 Nobel prizes, 5 Pulitzers, and 5 National Medals of Science amongst its alumni.
The Best Curriculum
No doubt that one thing all of the public elites have in common is that they offer a top notch curriculum. One such school is the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. This is not your typical high school in any way, shape, or form. Aside from its students who are all high achievers and gifted in math and science, the program is residential and a two year program only. Students live on the University of Northern Texas campus and attend regular college classes in math and science.
Other common factors among the elite are the ability to spend funds as needed (rather than spending funds on mandated programs that aren’t needed), a strong mission and a passion about that mission, a strong sense of community, and a diverse and lively student body.
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