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Washington Post Ranks AHS as a Top Academically Challenging School

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Recently, with all the data from students across the nation signing up for AP tests compiled and calculated, the Washington Post has updated its list of the most challenging schools.

Even taking into account all the schools in our county, Aberdeen has come out on top.

So what qualities of a school make it more challenging than others? The way the Washington Post‘s Jay Mathews determines this is by taking the number of college-level tests given in a school year, divided by the number of students in the school’s graduating class. This provides an index, and any school that has an index of 1.00 or higher make the list, and are subsequently ranked.

In Maryland, Aberdeen is the 35th school out of 122 schools total, and the top school in Harford county. The next highest school in the county is C. Milton Wright in 82nd place, and Fallston and Edgewood not too far beyond that in 85th and 86th place, respectively.

One of the factors taken into account when compiling this data is the school’s percentage of free or reduced lunches, supposedly indicative of the poverty in the area. One would expect that schools with a higher percentage would be lower down on the list, and to some extent, this is true.

However, there are many examples of breaks from this pattern. Suitland, in Forestville, which has the lowest ranking in the state in 122nd place, has a subsidized lunch percentage of 53. But in 34th place, even ahead of Aberdeen, is Wheaton in Silver Spring, at a percentage of 58. Aberdeen’s 39% is far larger than C. Milton Wright’s 11%, and we’re 47 places ahead.

What does this mean? Stereotypes exist for a reason, but as the data has shown, they should not substitute facts. Who you are or where you live is not an indication of your potential for greatness.

See the entire list here: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/local/highschoolchallenge/

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The student news site of Aberdeen High School
Washington Post Ranks AHS as a Top Academically Challenging School