The Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches reported the following:
Monday, December 08, 2008
Chireno High School was the only school in Nacogdoches County to be featured on the 2009 America's Best High Schools list, which is a collaboration between U.S. News & World Report and School Evaluation Services.
For the second year in a row, CHS was one of the 119 schools to earn a Bronze Medal.
Both Laneville School of Rusk County and
Hudson High School of Angelina County earned bronze medals.
"Basically, we made the "top 10%" of those (High Schools) that were studied. Keep in mind that many of these schools are not your normal public high school. The same is true for what we have seen with 'Just 4 Kids' in Texas. We will make their best list next year.
Hudson High School is blessed to have teachers like you...those who care and have a passion for kids and those who know building relationships is the key. Congratulations for a job well-done! You are heros. Next year, we will shoot for the gold medal! Keep up the great work. I believe that we are on the brink of becoming the gold-medal school with the implementation of several ideas that are coming from master teachers. This could be an exciting time...I'm looking forward to this!"
Donny Webb
Principal - Hudson High School
The America's Best High Schools list identifies the country's top-performing high schools, according to schoolmatters.com. The goal is to provide a clear, unbiased picture of how well public schools serve their students in preparing them to demonstrate proficiency in basic skills as well as readiness for college-level work.
Roger Dees, Chireno ISD superintendent, said CISD students and staff are "ecstatic" about making the list two years in a row.
"We're very fortunate that such a large publication would recognize us," Dees said. "We're excited, and this is the type of performance we expect out of our students and teachers."
Based on an in-depth methodology by School Evaluation Services, the list recognizes more than 1,900 schools in 48 states, which is up from the 1,600 schools in 40 states recognized by U.S. News in 2007, according to a U.S. News press release. However, more than 21,000 high schools were analyzed.
The high schools listed fall into one of four categories of distinction: gold, silver, bronze, or honorable mention.
The criteria for medal categories were:
• Gold medal - Top 100 schools nationally based on the College Readiness Index.
• Silver medal - All other schools with a college readiness index of at least 20 but that are not ranked in the top 100 nationally.
• Bronze medal - Either do not offer Advanced Placement (AP) and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams or do not achieve a college readiness index of at least 20 but successfully meet the other two key performance indicator criteria.
• Honorable mention - Schools that achieved very high levels of college readiness but only partially met state test performance criteria.
According to the release, a high school is recognized as a top school if it:
• Attains performance levels that exceed statistical expectations given the school's student body, as measured by state accountability test scores for all the school's students in the core subjects of reading and math.
• Achieves proficiency rates on state tests for their least advantaged student groups that exceed state averages.
• Prepares its students for college, as measured by student participation in and performance on Advanced Placement (AP) and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams.
