John Hersey Ranked 6th Toughest School in Illinois

Does your teenager complain about classes and homework at John Hersey High School? He or she might be justified in griping.

According to annual rankings created by the Washington Post, John Hersey High School is among the most challenging public high schools in the country. The high school is ranked as the sixth toughest school in Illinois behind Adlai E. Stevenson in Lincolnshire and four magnet schools in the city of Chicago. 

John Hersey moved up two spots from last year, when it ranked as the eighth toughest school in Illinois, according to a release from the high school.

Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews has rated public high schools around the country for the past 15 years based on something called the “Challenge Index,” according to the release.

The index takes the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at the school next year and divides it by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June. 

“With a few exceptions, public schools that achieved a ratio of at least 1.000, meaning they had as many tests in 2012 as they had graduates, were put on the national list at washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge,” Mathews explains in a Washington Post story. Before posting the list, he also filters out magnet or charter high schools that have few average-performing students.

This year, only 9 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools were included on the list, according to Mathews.