By Anna Skinner
Zionsville Community High School recently placed at No. 2 in the state on a list of America’s Best High Schools and at No. 328 nationwide.
The Newsweek ranking looked at college readiness by examining several factors, including college enrollment rate, graduation rate, advanced courses and student retention.
Principal Tim East said that the number of Advanced Placement courses ZCHS offers and the percentage of students who passed the AP exam for college credit helped the school achieve a high ranking.
“Being in the top 1 percent of all high schools for the next part of the student’s educational journey is very rewarding to us,” East said.
East said that ZCHS’s biggest goal is for 100 percent of their students to graduate with either an honors or a technical diploma.
Currently, about 65 to 70 percent of students earn at least one credit for college through AP courses, which places ZCHS behind the Signature Academy of Evansville, which was ranked as the No. 1 Indiana school for college readiness. East said it’s “nice to compete with the best.”
“The one thing I would always hope that all the community is aware of is that we don’t set out to be recognized by the publications,” East said. “It’s nice when we are, but each publication sets its own criteria which may or may not align with a local school’s goals. This does not cast other schools as not doing well, it’s just affirmation that we are completing our goals.”
To see the complete list of schools that Newsweek ranked as the best in America, visit http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2015.
