LBHS Ranks in Top 9% of High Schools Nationwide

Long Beach High School has been ranked in the top nine percent of all high schools in the nation and 98^th in New York State in The Washington Post’s High School Challenge Index. The school moved up 508 spots in the national ranking and 41 spots among all New York schools on this year’s list.

Each year, the Post’s Jay Matthews ranks public high schools using the Challenge Index, his measure of how effectively a school prepares its students for college. The formula used to determine a school’s ranking divides the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or other college-level tests a school gave in 2010 by the number of graduating seniors.

“Your appearance on this list means that you are trying much harder than most schools to expose your students to the demands of college,” said Matthews in an official announcement to the school.

Long Beach High School was officially authorized as an International Baccalaureate World School in 2010. Since then the school has expanded its college-level course offerings, adding about 25 IB courses to its existing list of 30 AP and other college-level courses offered to students in their junior and senior years.

In the 2011-2012 school year, there were 435 individual students taking at least one college-level course in their junior or senior year. In the 2012-2013 school year, roughly 500 students have elected to take at least one college-level course, representing approximately 60 percent of all juniors and seniors.

“One of the top priorities of Long Beach Public Schools is to supply our students with the skills they will need to prepare for college and careers,” said Principal Gaurav Passi. “We are proud to be recognized for our efforts by The Washington Post’s High School Challenge.”