Eden Prairie Named 15th Most Challenging School in Minnesota

Eden Prairie High School climbed into the top 10 on a list of most challenging schools in Minnesota, according to rankings released last week.

The Washington Post’s High School Challenge ranked Eden Prairie ninth in the state for how it prepares students for college. Nationally, the school was ranked 621^st out of 1,900 schools that made the list.

Last year, it was 15^th in the state.

Only 9 percent of the country’s approximately 22,000 schools made the list, including 27 in Minnesota.

To grade the schools, the Washington Post divided the number of college preparation tests that students took by the number of graduating seniors. Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests were all tallied. Schools with a score above 1.0 made the list.

Eden Prairie scored 2.569.

Schools in nearby districts that made the list were:

• St. Louis Park, second in the state with a score of 4.355
• Edina, third with a score of 3.764
• Robbinsdale Armstrong, 10^th with a score of 2.556
• Wayzata, 16^th with a score of 1.905
• Hopkins, 22^nd with a score of 1.375
• Robbinsdale Cooper, 27^th with a score of 1.013

The list excludes magnets and charter schools that have average SAT or ACT scores greater than the highest average for normal enrollment schools—which translates to 2000 for the SAT or 29.3 for the ACT.

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