Annandale Schools Make Washington Post Top Ranked List

Updated: Sunday, May 22 8:42 p.m.

ranked 1031 and is 366 in this year's Challenge Index, the annual list of area local schools organized by education resporter Jay Mathews of The Washington Post. The rankings list scores for more than 1,900 public high schools nationwide.

Out of 170 Washington-area public high schools, FCHS ranked 49th and AHS ranked 101th. Additionally in the state of Virginia , FCHS came in 33rd with AHS at 66th.

According to the Fairfax County Public Schools news release about it, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was not included in the list because of its selective admissions process. It is recognized in a separate group titled “Public Elites.”

Since 1998, Mathews has ranked Washington-area public high schools using the Challenge Index, his measure of how effectively a school prepares its students for college.  

The formula: Divide the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or other college-level tests a school gave in 2010 by the number of graduating seniors. The index is not a measure of the overall quality of the school, but the rating can reveal the level of preparing average students for college.

To see the entire list, click here and to read more about the list, you can read Jay Matthews' column here.