America's Best High Schools

US News and World Report released its list of America's best high schools today.

The list is based on a 'three-step process that examines how well a school serves its entire student body (average students, disadvantaged students, and collegebound students).'

It's an impressive list, not the least for its wide geographic distribution.

The top 100 list is here.

It's an inspiring read.

I get to work with a student in one of the top 30 on the list.  It's an old building, with literally no campus around it.  Students attend based on achievement, and a lottery is also involved.  The level of motivation is very high.  For every student there, there is at least another in the city happy to replace him. Hmm.  No reports of drugs and discipline problems. He thrives there, generally, except that he is so far ahead of the maths program that boredom is a real challenge.

In the general attitude of cynicism towards schools, it's good to be reminded that greatness is possible in unlikely places.  It's not so much a matter of spending money on the latest and greatest physical plant, as it is about building great faculties, and fostering that sense of community that tends to pull everyone along in the right direction.

If what we see here can be our expectations of normality, we're in for great days ahead.

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