Revere High School jumped in ranking from 30th to 23rd on US News and World Report’s yearly ranking of Ohio high schools.
US News and World Report, a media company that produces worldwide news ranking and analysis, does a yearly ranking of the top high schools in Ohio. They consider a magnitude of statistics and create a scorecard in order to produce their rankings. Statistics include: taking an AP class, passing an AP exam, math proficiency, reading proficiency, science proficiency, and graduation rate. After calculating all of this data, Revere received a 96.44 on its scorecard, placing it at 23rd on the list.
Dr. Andrew Peltz, principal of Revere High School, touched on how receiving this ranking made him feel.
“It’s an honor, and it’s quite humbling as well,” Peltz said.
Peltz talked about all of the things that go into this ranking. He described how it is not just one specific thing that can make a high school great, but rather a variety of qualities all put together. Peltz brought up the core questions that arise when talking about what makes a school great.
“How well were your students able to persevere and adapt through challenges? How much sense of school pride and personal pride do they have in their own results? How many students were willing to step outside their comfort zone and take classes that maybe were a little bit more challenging for them? So when you put all of those little pieces together . . . it’s impressive that we all came together to sort of check a lot of boxes to score so high,” Peltz said.
Peltz addressed that he wants to applaud the ranking but not have it take too much of an effect on the school. He talked about how he does not want to focus completely on the ranking and, in return, take away attention from the students.
“We still need to celebrate the fact that we’re in the top at all [but] I don’t want to chase the number. I just feel like if we do good things and we promote our students and we give them positive opportunities, that number is going to take care of itself,” Peltz said.
Dr. Michael Tefs, superintendent of Revere High School, is often involved in making schoolwide and district wide decisions that could affect this ranking. Tefs provided more insight as to what goes into the scoring of the report.
“30% of the ranking is on college readiness, and that is defined by the proportion of twelfth graders who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP test . . . if you earn a qualifying score it is worth three times the amount of points than just taking it,” Tefs said
AP courses, also known as Advanced Placement courses, are classes designed to give students the opportunity to dive into college-level work while still being in high school. Students take the course through their high school, and then take an AP test that can provide them with a college credit. Tefs described how Revere’s AP courses are important to the school and serve as one of the best qualities the high school offers, helping to achieve the ranking.
The best quality of Revere “would be the AP” courses and “how we do on the AP tests,” Tefs said.
Tefs spoke about how important student life at Revere is to him and how it is one of his main focal points as superintendent. This is the main goal of the administration at Revere because they want to see the students succeed and have an enjoyable high school experience.
“What matters to me more than anything is our student experience . . . I’m going to focus on the student experience,” Tefs said.
An AP teacher at Revere, Jason Milczewski talked about the AP experience and what type of work goes into it. He added some reasoning to Tefs’s statements about how important AP courses are.
“At the end of day, in order to do well on an AP test you have to be able to get the content and the skills from the teacher but also study them,” Milczewski said.
Milczewski described the effort and time that a student must put into an AP course, showing why AP courses have such an impact on a school’s scorecard due to how rigorous they are.
“I always tell students . . . right before the test, about a month before, you want to have a gut check moment. Look in the mirror and say to yourself, am I willing as a junior or senior or whatever, to spend five weeks studying for a test . . . Maybe ask that question going into a course, are you willing to put that kind of work in,” Milczewski said.
Revere will continue to focus on the importance of student experience that Peltz and Tefs addressed, as well as encourage the rigorous courses that Revere has to offer. They are excited about this ranking and intend to follow the same procedures as before to keep or perhaps higher this ranking. They also know that everything will work out for Revere, no matter the number on that scorecard.
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