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Newsweek's annual survey on the top American high schools has just been released
Does high school really prepare kids for college — and life? Some of them do, and some of them do it much, much better than others.
For more than a decade, Newsweek has been ranking the top public high schools in America, and this year they changed their methodology in hopes of highlighting solutions to problems (inspired by Waiting for ‘Supeman’) like cash-strapped districts, No Child Left Behind mandates and parent and student stress.
The new ranking criteria had six components: graduation rate (25%), college matriculation rate (25%), and AP tests taken per graduate (25%), plus average SAT/ACT scores (10%), average AP/IB scores (10%), and AP courses offered per graduate (5%).
More than 1,100 of the top public high schools across the country supplied internal data to Newsweek for the survey. Five hundred schools landed on the list. Here’s a look at best of the best:
American kids have, for decades, lagged behind European and Asian countries in math and science. But our dirty little secret was always that U.S. kids’ creativity kicked global ass.
At least until the 1990s.
Ever since then, it’s been on a steady decline and nobody is sure why. Writing for Newsweek, Nurtureshock‘s Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, take a look at the crisis and upend assumptions about what creativity is, how it works and who or what might be to blame for its decline. There’s also the interesting history of measuring creativity (who knew!), what and how it has been tested for (hint: not the prettiest oil-on-canvas). Continue reading »
Abduction. Shark attacks. Peanut Allergies. Terrorism. Summer is a scary place for American kids.
Happily, all these dangers are incredibly rare. Newsweek has assembled a charming pictorial representation of what you should really be afraid of, and it’s not the stuff headlines tell us to sweat over.
Child abductions? A mere drop in the bucket next to poisonings, suicides and dog bites.
What should you really watch out for this summer?
If you could not breastfeed, would you feed your baby breast milk donated by an anonymous online mom instead of allowing it to drink formula from a bottle? According to Newsweek, a growing number of moms would answer that question with a resounding yes.
OK, let the hate mail begin, but let me be the first to say it: Giving your child breast milk from people you will never meet is absolutely bonkers. I’m all for breastfeeding, but not to the point where you are taking milk pumped by random people to feed your child. Continue reading »
180 alert!
Less than a year ago, parents were buried under an avalanche of studies that concluded kids don’t make you happy. In fact, these studies showed that people raising kids reported lower levels of happiness — life satisfaction, marital satisfaction, and mental well-being — than their childless counterparts.
Oh, and that lower level of happiness? Never. Goes. Away.
Okay, but now out of the U.K., the Journal of Happiness Studies reports that not only do kids not lower their parents’ level of happiness, they actually raise it — a little bit with the first kid. Even more with the second. And (I’m looking at you, Baby Earl!) significantly more with the third!
There’s a catch, though. Continue reading »
Along with flashcards, private tutors and piping in Mozart, you’ll want to include neatly pressed slacks and personality coaching in your child’s long-term educational strategies.
A new study has found a significant link between beauty and grades, something everyone but the beautiful have long suspected. Continue reading »
My daughter is far from being ready for high school, but when I saw Newsweek’s America’s Top Public High School list I immediately scoured the list of 1,300 schools to see which of our local schools made it.
The schools are from all over the country and the scoring is based on test scores (AP, Intl. Baccalaureate, Cambridge). Who made it to the top of the list ? Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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