LAPS News:
US News & World Report has selected Los Alamos High School for a “Silver Medal” ranking in 2013 as one of America’s Best High Schools.
From a review of 21,035 U.S. public high schools, Los Alamos ranked 556 in the nation. Los Alamos ranking was up significantly from the 2012 “Silver Medal” ranking of 638.
Rankings of high schools are largely determined by participation in Advanced Placement courses. This past year, 49 percent of the 1,124 of the students at Los Alamos High School enrolled in AP courses. Other academic indicators used in the ranking are College Readiness Index, Math Proficiency, Reading Proficiency and Student/Teacher Ratio.
Los Alamos High School Principal Sandy Warnock was delighted with the news. She spoke of the commitment by staff to raise the rigor and relevance of the high school curriculum. Warnock complimented students for their interest in taking challenging courses.
“Ranking is based on the key principles that a great high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college-bound, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators,” she said.
Los Alamos Public School Board President Jim Hall thanked high school administration and staff for their hard work that led to this higher national ranking. He also shared that students will benefit from the high quality instruction offered at the high school on their pathway to become college and career ready.
“The credit should not only go to the high school but to every teacher and staff member who contributes to a student’s success in our schools,” Hall said.
LAPS School Board Secretary Matt Williams commented that the news “was really fantastic!”
“The score, and the jump in score for LAHS is a testament to the commitment by the entire community to the education of our youth. I am especially pleased that this ranking requires our schools to serve and advance the entire school population. I look forward to helping our school district continue its climb towards excellence,” he said.
