Schools

Bellevue District High Schools Among the Top Ranked in Washington Post "Challenge Index"

The newspaper ranked schools nationwide based on the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Cambridge tests, which are tests for college-level work.

Bellevue district high schools made the top ranks of the Washington Post "Challenge Index," which is based on the number of college-level tests that students take.

International School, Interlake, Newport and Sammamish high schools all placed in the Challenge Index's top 100 and Bellevue High School made the top 150, according to the newspaper's website. The Bellevue schools were the top five in the state, according to the way the Post analyzed the schools. The rankings were based on 27,000 public schools nationwide that the paper analyzed.

According to the Washington Post, the Challenge Index's formula is to divide the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or other college-level tests a school gave in 2010 by the number of graduating seniors. The Post advises that while the index not a measure of the overall quality of the school, the rating can reveal the level of a high school’s commitment to preparing average students for college.

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"I am very pleased to see Bellevue’s schools once again land on a national list of top schools for advanced placement participation. The ranking reflects this Districts’ commitment to the AP and IB programs and the belief that any student may challenge themselves to higher levels," said Bellevue Superintendent Amalia Cudeiro in a prepared statement.  "The ranking also reflects the commitment of our teachers and staff to help all children succeed and challenge themselves in new ways."

All Bellevue high schools offer Advanced Placement (AP) classes, which prepare students for a test of college-level work and skills in a certain subject area administered at the end of the year. Many students take more than one Advanced Placement course in a year. Interlake also offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which is a two-year academically challenging curriculum across multiple subjects.

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Ranking

School

Index Score

Free & Reduced %

17

International

8.161

2

21

Interlake

7.561

25

55

Newport

5.468

11

75

Sammamish

4.797

32

133

Bellevue

3.975

11

 -- Table information from Washington Post Challenge Index

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Interlake offered IB and not AP, when it fact it offers both. The story has been corrected.


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