Chesapeake Science Point School Among Most Challenging in Maryland

HANOVER, MD — Many students can skate by in high school with good grades when they choose less challenging courses. But more challenging courses, such as Advanced Placement classes, are what really help teens grow and learn and even earn college credits. With that in mind, the Washington Post recently released its 2017 list of the Most Challenging High Schools in the U.S.

South River High School in Edgewater ranks as number 262 on the national list. Also on the list just one spot higher is Chesapeake Science Point School in Hanover, a county charter school.

The Washington Post ranks schools through an index formula that’s a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year, according to the Washington Post. A ratio of 1.000 means the school had as many tests as graduates.

South River's index was 4.536, while Chesapeake Science has an index of 4.545.

Here is a look at the top 10 most challenging schools in Maryland and their national ranking, according to the Washington Post. You can click here to see all of the schools listed in Maryland and get more information about individual statistics.

1. Poolesville (93)
2. Richard Montgomery in Rockville (118)
3. Churchill in Potomac (129)
4. Bethesda-Chevy Chase (155)
5. Walt Whitman in Bethesda (181)
6. Holton-Arms in Bethesda (239)
7. Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg (250)
8. Wootton in Rockville (253)
9. Chesapeake Science Point in Hanover (261)
10. South River in Edgewater (262)

The Post’s “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” project was created 30 years ago when reporters discovered a public school in a poor Hispanic neighborhood produced 26 percent of all the successful Mexican-American Advanced Placed calculus students in the country because, according to columnist Jay Matthews, they were “giving students more time and encouragement to learn.”

“My focus since then has been to explore how this is done and identify those schools working hardest to challenge students from all backgrounds,” Matthews said. “The list shows a sustained increase in the number of schools that qualify…even though the vast majority of U.S. schools still do not make the list.”

The most challenging schools in the nation and their index scores are:

1. BASIS Phoenix: Phoenix, Ariz., 26.25
2. Mickey Leland College Prep: Houston, Texas, 21
3. IDEA Frontier College Prep: Brownsville, Texas, 19.596
4. IDEA Mission College Prep: Mission, Texas, 18.831
5. IDEA San Juan College Prep: San Juan, Texas, 18.821
6. IDEA San Benito College Prep: San Benito, Texas, 17.264
7. Signature School: Evansville, Ind., 17.25
8. BASIS Oro Valley: Oro Valley, Ariz., 16.789
9. IDEA Quest College Prep: Edinburg, Texas, 16.19
10. BASIS Flagstaff: Flagstaff, Ariz., 15.2

»What do you think of the difficulty ratings? Let us know in the comments below.

With reporting by Amie Rowland

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