Last month, Newsweek published its America’s Top High Schools 2015 list. The schools were selected solely by looking at academic performance without taking additional factors into consideration. Of the top 500 high schools, only six are listed as having a “poverty” rating of over 60 percent, which qualifies a school to be defined as “low-income” by the Federal Government. Based upon these results, the effect of socioeconomic status on education is clear. Newsweek recognized this and published a separate list, Beating the Odds 2015, in response. This list, in their words, “seeks to identify schools that do an excellent job of preparing their students for college while also overcoming the obstacles posed by students at an economic disadvantage.” To do this, they ranked schools based on academic performance while controlling for student poverty rates.*
Bright Star Secondary Charter Academy, or “BSSCA,” was one of the schools recognized, ranking 197th out of 500 schools that are “beating the odds.” With a closer look, the results become even more impressive. Of the 74 schools listed in California, BSSCA comes in at 31st. Although the list controls for poverty, only 157 of the schools included classify as “low-income,” and of these, BSSCA ranks 87th. Additionally, if looking just at California schools operating with a Free and Reduced Price Lunch percentage of 90 percent or higher, Bright Star Secondary is the top school listed.
Congratulations to the BSSCA team and all of their Bright Star scholars!
*If you’d like to read more about Newsweek’s methodology, please visit: http://www.newsweek.com/methodology-newsweeks-top-high-school-rankings-2015-363698
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