Two Myrtle Beach-area High Schools Tabbed by U.S. News & World Report as Among Nation’s Best
Nearly 19,000 high schools nationwide were put to the test. Only 1,591 – or 9 percent – surpassed the high bar set by U.S. News & World Report in its inaugural list of “America’s Best High Schools.”
This elite list includes two schools from our area – Myrtle Beach High School and Loris High School, each of which earned Bronze-medal status in U.S. News’ 2008 rankings.
More than 18,700 public high schools in 40 states were compared in the first year of the U.S. News’ ratings for high schools. The list has been posted on the magazine's Web site, and will appear in its December 10 print edition.
Schools were judged on how well students score on state reading and math tests, as well as participation and achievement in challenging Advanced Placement courses. The system was developed by School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education data research business run by Standard & Poor’s, and based on the key principles that “a great high school must serve all its students well, not just those who are bound for college, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes that show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators.”
U.S. News is known for ranking the nation's colleges, graduate schools and hospitals, but had not previously developed ratings for high schools due to the availability of comparable data (data from 10 states and the District of Columbia was either unavailable, or deemed insufficient for purposes of this study). Test data available through the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and an increase in schools with AP courses, have made the rankings possible.
Schools were screened initially on achievement on standardized reading and math tests, with extra scrutiny given to scores of disadvantaged students. Schools that made initial cuts were rated on participation and performance in Advanced Placement courses. Schools that don't offer AP courses or don't have enough students participating in them weren't eligible for the top 100 list, but were eligible for the separate silver and bronze category of high performers.
Sources: Horry County Schools, U.S. News & World Report
This speaks really well for the schools in our area. Compared to having had our kids in other districts in the Northeast and out west, I'm very thankful that our kids have been able to get a strong educational experience here. Congrats to these two schools on a deserving honor!
