JHS Earns Bronze Medal
from U.S. News & World Report

Joplin High School has been named one of America's Best High Schools by U.S. News & World Report. JHS is one of just 36 Missouri high schools to receive bronze medal recognition.

This is the second year that U.S. News & World Report has offered this recognition. More than 21,000 public high schools in 48 states were analyzed using data from the 2006-2007 school year. Schools were recognized on the basis of:

• Standardized test performance,
• Proficiency rates of all students, including the least advantaged, and
• Offering a challenging college ready curriculum.

Schools can earn a gold medal, a silver medal, or a bronze medal. The top 100 high schools nationwide were awarded the coveted gold medals in 2009. None of the gold medals were awarded in Missouri, however, and only five Missouri high schools earned a silver medal.

The judging methodology for the best high schools was developed by School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education data research business run by Standard & Poor’s. This methodology allowed U.S. News & World Report and School Evaluation Services to analyze how well high schools serve all students, not just those that perform at the top of their class.

A three-step process determines the best high schools. The first step determines whether a school’s students are performing better than statistically expected for the average student in the state. Math and reading results are factored in, along with the percentage of economically disadvantaged students enrolled at a school, to find which schools perform better than their statistical expectations.

The second step determines whether a school’s least-advantaged students are performing better than average for similar students in the state. Each school’s math and reading proficiency rates for disadvantaged students are compared with the statewide results. Schools are selected if they perform better than the state average.

The third and final step assesses the degree to which a school prepares students for college-level achievement. This step uses a “college readiness index” based on the Advanced Placement (AP) and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) participation rate, along with how well the students did on those tests.

For a complete list of America’s Best High Schools, please visit www.usnews.com/highschools. To learn more about a specific school or to compare schools side-by-side, visit www.schoolmatters.com.

posted 1/6/09