U.S. News and World Report included three area schools on their 35 Best High Schools in Oregon released Thursday. South Eugene ranked in the top 10, Lowell and Churchill ranked 19th and 23rd respectively. But the report has little impact at the local level.
Randy Bernstein is Director of Secondary Education with the 4J School District.
Bernstein: “It’s certainly nice to be recognized. That being said, we also recognize that the criteria and the weighting system that they use manifests itself differently from school to school and program to program.”
Bernstein says the report focuses on Advance Placement testing. He says some high schools not included on the list may rank well in other areas, such as student achievement growth.
Bernstein says the report cards from the state of Oregon are a more helpful measure of student progress. They include graduation and dropout rates and break down information by gender, race, and economic status.
The U.S. News report looked at 326 charter and public high schools in the state. Most schools ranked high on the list are in or near Portland.