US News and World Report named Abington Senior High School one of “Americans Best High Schools,” winning another Silver Medal Award.
US News & World Report utilized data from 28,561 high schools nationwide and 676 high schools in Pennsylvania. Abington Senior High School ranked Number 1624 out of high schools nationwide, which is in the top 5.58% of high schools in the country, and ranked Number 48 of the high schools in Pennsylvania.
At the School Board meeting this week, Director of Curriculum Dr. Ann Bacon and Abington Senior High School Principal Mr. Angelo Berrios reviewed the methodology that resulted in the award.
RTI International, an independent, nonprofit institute that provides research, development, and technical services to government and commercial organizations worldwide, used a four step process to analyze the high schools under consideration:
Step 1 – School achievement data on state-administered reading and mathematics tests was analyzed and schools could meet the established criteria in one of two ways:
1. Score in top 10% of the state’s performance index distribution
2. When free/reduced lunch data, a measure of poverty, is used as a predictor of performance, score at or above one-third of a standard deviation above the predicted Performance Index.
Step 2 – Determine whether the school’s disadvantaged students (black, Hispanic, and low-income) were outperforming disadvantaged students in the state.
Step 3 – Schools with a graduation rate of at least 68% were permitted to proceed to Step 4.
Step 4 – College-Readiness Performance Indicator of at least 20.17 based on participation and on number of students earning a score of at least 3 on one Advanced Placement test or a score of 4 on one International Baccalaureate test. Abington Senior High School’s College-Readiness score was 33.
Abington Senior High School’s US News & World Report profile can be viewed at:
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/pennsylvania/districts/abington-sd/abington-high-school-16766?district_id=102097
The presentation on the selection process methodology can be viewed at:
http://www.boarddocs.com/pa/abington/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=A99NN9582B1F