Newport High Schools Ranked Among Nation's Toughest Schools

Does your teenager complain about classes and homework at Newport Harbor or Corona Del Mar high schools? 

He or she might be justified in griping.

According to annual rankings created by the Washington Post,  Corona Del Mar High School and Newport Harbor High School are among the more challenging public high schools in the country. In California, Corona Del Mar is  No. 37 and Newport Harbor ranks No. 66. In Orange County, Corona Del Mar is second only to Oxford Academy in Cypress.

Corona Del Mar High School actually fell nine spots from last year, when it ranked No. 28 in California. Newport Harbor fell one spot from 66 last year.

Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews has rated public high schools around the country for the past 15 years based on something called the “Challenge Index.” The index takes the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at the school that year and divides it by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June. 

“With a few exceptions, public schools that achieved a ratio of at least 1.000, meaning they had as many tests in 2012 as they had graduates, were put on the national list at washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge,” Mathews explains in a Washington Post story. Before posting the list, he also filters out magnet or charter high schools that have few average-performing students.

This year, only 9 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools were included on the list, according to Mathews.