U.S. News Names Top High Schools
Current entrance to AVHS.
For 40 years, Apple Valley High School has upheld a tradition of excellence. With the Triple-A philosophy in mind, the student body has grown to be one that excels in all things arts, athletics, and academics.
But just how excellent is AVHS really? Well, according to US News and World Report: pretty darn excellent.
On April 20th, U.S. News and World Report released their annual Best High Schools report. Out of 760 Minnesota high schools (charter schools included), all four District 196 high schools fell within the top 40. Eastview took the lead at #10, with Eagan close behind at #17. Rosemount was ranked at #27, and Apple Valley claimed the #40 spot. While AVHS was ranked lowest of the four high schools, it is still an amazing accomplishment to be ranked so high with 759 other competitors, and District 196 has plenty to be proud of, too.
When constructing the rankings for best high schools, U.S. News and World Report analyzes each school’s math and reading proficiency, student/teacher enrollment, AP participation, and school data, among other things.
One notable rank that U.S. News highlights is each school’s College Readiness Index. High school students are given the opportunity to take AP and IB exams to earn college credit and demonstrate knowledge at a college level by taking cumulative national exams upon completion of the courses. U.S. News calculates the College Readiness Index based on exam participation rates and percentages of students passing at least one exam.
While Apple Valley’s College Readiness Index couldn’t quite match that of the #1 ranked school in Minnesota (Nova Classical Academy Upper School), principal Steve Degenaar emphasized the great role that AP and CIS classes play at AVHS, and also noted it as one of our greatest academic strengths.
“In our district, we have a very strong AP and College in the Schools curriculum. We have a high percentage of our kids that are in that, and there are schools that don’t offer half the classes that we offer. [Our AP and CIS curriculum] is taking our above-average kids and giving them opportunities to expand and explore, and we do that as good as anybody.”
Fortunately, U.S. News does not take into account MCA scores when determining rankings, because that, according to Mr. Degenaar, is where we need the most improvement.
Just last month, AVHS administered the 2016 MCA tests, with sophomores taking the reading portion and juniors taking mathematics. The preliminary scores, received recently, were 63% passing for reading and 56% for math. After a slight decline in performance from students last year, Degenaar says that with these improved scores we are on track to getting our scores back to where they once were.
Graduates of Menlo Atheron High School throw their caps in the air at the end of graduation ceremonies in Menlo Park, California.
“The big push this year has been to have our kids do the best on the test; we see our scores going up, and that’s what it’s all about right now,” Degenaar stated.
Another statistic that U.S. News analyzes prior to determining the best high schools is graduation rate. According to the United States Department of Education, the national average graduation rate for public high schools hit an all-time high during the 2013-2014 school year, reaching 82%. Apple Valley–and all four schools in the district, for that matter–soar well beyond 82% when it comes to graduation rate: 89.5% of the 2015 Apple Valley graduating class received a diploma on June 6th last year.
However, graduation rates are not the only thing on which AVHS beats out the national average.
According to PrepScholar, an ACT and SAT online prep site for students, the average composite ACT score nationally is 21.0. At Apple Valley, it’s more than 3 points higher, reaching 23.5 in 2015, which also tops the Minnesota average of 22.9. Better yet, we have been seeing improved scores over the last three years as well.
This photo shows an ACT Assessment test in Springfield, Ill. The popular ACT college admissions exam is broadening how it reports student’s scores.
“[ACT scores are] the true indicator of where we’re at, because kids take the college entrance tests very seriously,” Mr. Degenaar stated, emphasizing that with improving ACT scores would soon come improving MCA scores, because these are the same students taking the same tests.
With this continuous improvement, Mr. Degenaar and the community of AVHS has hopes to see even better results on next year’s Best High Schools report from U.S. News.
In the meantime, while Apple Valley High School may be #40 to U.S. News and World Report, it is safe to say that it will always be #1 to the thousands of students and faculty that have left their mark during its history.
