PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — U.S. News & World Report has announced the 2015 Best High Schools rankings, highlighting top-performing public schools on a state and national level, and Presque Isle High School was deemed the 14th best high school in Maine.
U.S. News differentiates high schools with gold, silver and bronze medals, using gold medals to indicate the greatest level of college readiness. This year in Maine there are three gold medal schools, 14 silver medal schools and 12 bronze medal schools. PIHS was awarded a silver medal, and was ranked 1,775 nationally.
“A high school diploma is essential for career and financial success,” said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News & World Report. “The Best High Schools rankings are a useful tool for families trying to discern how well schools are serving their students in preparation for college and careers.”
The methodology for identifying the Best High Schools was developed with a core principle in mind: that the best schools must serve all students well and must produce measurable academic outcomes that support this mission.
To produce the 2015 rankings, U.S. News teamed up with North Carolina-based RTI International, a global non-profit social science research firm.
RTI implemented the U.S. News comprehensive rankings methodology, which reflects how well high schools serve all of their students, not just those who are planning to go to college.
According to the methodology, a Best High School is one that succeeds at the following steps:
• Step 1: Attains performance levels that exceed statistical expectations given the school’s relative level of student poverty, as measured by state accountability test scores for all the school’s students in the core subjects of reading and math.
PIHS test scores show that 58 percent of the students are proficient in reading, while 62 percent are proficient in math.
• Step 2: Achieves proficiency rates on state tests for its least advantaged student groups — e.g., African-American, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students — that exceed state averages.
• Step 3: Prepares its students for college, as measured by student participation in and performance on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams.
The college readiness index for PIHS is 27.6.
According to Ben Greenlaw, principal at PIHS, the silver medal status confirms what he sees on a regular basis.
“Presque Isle High School is filled with dedicated teachers and motivated students. We have consistently high expectations for our students both behaviorally and academically, and we live in a community that values and supports education,” he said. “This designation helps to affirm what we are doing, but does not change how we operate on a day-to-day basis.
“The ultimate goal for us at PIHS is to provide a top-notch education for our students and to help to prepare them for the next phase of their life, be it, college, the military or entering the workforce,” said Greenlaw, noting that the school has made the list on a fairly regular basis. “I think the thing that we are most proud of is that we have been recognized as being a high achieving school for a number or years. Consistently being on lists like the U.S. News and World Report shows that we are able to offer a high quality education, year in and year out, and that our outcomes are on par with the best schools in the state.”
While there is no monetary award associated with being named one of the U.S. News Best High Schools, each gold, silver and bronze school will have its rankings, medal designation and data published online at usnews.com. There are also many marketing opportunities through U.S. News, as well.
For more information about Best High Schools, visit www.usnews.com/highschools.
