Mendham, Central High Schools Not Challenging Enough, Washington Post Says

Magazines that focus on New Jersey and the nation, as a whole, claim both high schools in the West Morris Regional High School District are top notch, and produce stellar students.

According to the Washington Post, though, not so much.

In its annual “Challenge Index,” neither West Morris Central or Mendham High School were ranked among the 2,200 entries from across the country by the newspaper.

The basis for the “challenge” is actually a metric that both schools are known to excel in: Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate testing.

According to the index’s methodology, “We take the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school each year and divide by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June.”

The index was based on how many of those graduates took one of the tests during his or her senior year.

“With a few exceptions, public schools that achieved a ratio of at least 1.00, meaning they had as many tests in 2014 as they had graduates, were put on the national list,” said Jay Mathews, who created the index.

The top school in the nation was BASIS Oro Valley in Oro Valley, Arizona.

Even further, the methodology had nothing to do with how well the students did on the test, rather, that pupils merely took the test.

The index and its exclusion of Central and Mendham comes as a surprise, as just last week longtime educator and now administrative recruiter William Librera said West Morris Regional is unique in that not only does it offer both AP and IB, but instructs the curricula very well.

In 2014, New Jersey Monthly Magazine ranked Mendham and Central no. 4 and no. 11 in the state, respectively, for its bi-annual list. Also in 2014, Newsweek ranked Mendham no. 81 nationally, and Central no. 209.

Both NJ Monthly and Newsweek used AP and IB success in their metrics. A variety of nearby high schools, including Randolph, Morristown, Parsippany, Mt. Olive, and Chatham all made the list.

Of course, Mathews says, if a reader believes his or her high school should be on the list, feel free to message him at jay.mathews@washpost.com. If the publication sees that a school qualifies, it will be added to the list.

Here’s the complete index, and here’s the methodology.

What do you think, regional school district community? Tell us in the comments.

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