Schools

Walton, Pope Snubbed by U.S. News

Lassiter, Sprayberry and Wheeler are the only East Cobb high schools to be ranked in Georgia.

Earlier this week Patch told you about the good marks for Walton, Pope, Wheeler, Lassiter and other East Cobb-area high schools as among the "most challenging" in the country.

To illustrate how subjective these criteria are, we give you the latest high school rankings from U.S. News. While Lassiter High School fares well again -- it's considered the 7th-best in Georgia and No. 343 in the nation -- other "most challenging" schools in the area didn't make the list at all.

Here's the real head-scratcher: Walton and Pope were unranked even in Georgia. Wheeler was ranked No. 17 (and No. 906 nationally) and also was on the "most challenging" list.

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Only 47 schools in Georgia were ranked by U.S. News.

Also unranked was Kell High School in Northeast Cobb. Sprayberry High School made both lists, coming in at No. 22 in Georgia and No. 1,343 in the country.

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U.S. News ranked nearly 3,000 high schools nationwide. Eligible schools were considered for national medalist designations based on student success in Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs.

An estimated 68 percent of Walton students take AP courses; at Pope, the participation rate is 53 percent.

Magnet-type schools specializing in math, science, technology and the arts were ranked at the top of the list in Georgia. Lassiter is second among the general public schools, trailing only Columbus High School, while Wheeler is designated as a math, science and technology magnet.

Seven other high schools in Cobb County also received Georgia rankings.

We provide these numbers while acknowledging the vast disparity between two sets of rankings, and that were released within the same week. Which leads us to ask the following question:

Do you take much stock in these rankings? What makes a good high school, and can that be quantified? Tell us in the comment box below.

 


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