Newtown's Council Rock North Named On Most Challenging High Schools List

Newton area’s school district, Council Rock North School District was recently named to a list of the most challenging high schools in Pennsylvania and around the country, according to a new study released by the Washington Post.

The study measures things like percentage of students on lunch subsidies and amount of college level tests taken.

“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,” writes Washington Post reporter Jay Matthews.

Schools are then ranked according to that index. Council Rock ranked 28th, with an index of 1.417%.

BASIS Oro Valley in Arizona was the top ranked school, with an index of 20.444%.

Many distinguished charter schools were not included on the list because they attract a high number of already-proficient students, the report states.

Downingtown STEM Academy took the top spot in Pennsylvania. Unionville in Kennett Square was 7th, while Ambler was 8th and North Penn was 26th.