All Nine Frederick County Public High Schools on Newsweek's 'Best' List

Originally published June 15, 2010 in the Frederick News Post by Marge Neal

For the first time, all nine comprehensive high schools within Frederick County Public Schools have been named to Newsweek magazine's America's Best High Schools list.

On the list are slightly more than 1,600 schools, or about 6 percent of the nation's 27,000 public high schools.

The list ranks schools based on the number of advanced placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests divided by the school's number of graduating seniors.

Topping the list for Frederick County is Urbana High School at No. 479. Making the list for the first time is Tuscarora, the county's newest high school, at No. 1,555.

The Newsweek list, known as the Challenge Index, measures the availability of college-level courses that challenge high-achieving students.

The list does not include "any magnet or charter high school that draws such a high concentration of top students that its average SAT or ACT score significantly exceeds the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country," according to the Newsweek article.

To be included on the list, schools had to have an average SAT score below 1,975 or an average ACT score below 29.