21st Century Education
Innovation and Breakthrough
If you missed this week's blogposts on how
Valley New School (VNS) is putting Innovation into Action, you can read them here:
Valley New School: Putting Innovation Into Action
Innovation Action Zones
Sign up here to receive my twice-weekly blogposts in the future.
Great news to share!
On Wednesday, U.S. News & World Report released its 2015 Best High Schools Rankings, and 28 public charter schools are among the top 100! Moreover, two public charter high schools are ranked in the top 10: BASIS Scottsdale (#2) in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology (#4) in Lawrenceville, Ga.
This is the remarkable part. 28% of the top public high schools are charter public schools. Yet, on average, only 5% of public school students attend charter public schools.
U.S. News & World Report teamed up with RTI International, a North Carolina-based global nonprofit social science research firm, to produce the 2015 rankings. Public high schools were evaluated by their students' performance on state-mandated assessments, minority and economically disadvantaged student performance, and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exam results to determine preparedness for college-level work.
Public charter school representation in the top 100 of the U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools Rankings has grown over the past five years from 18 schools to 28. The 2015 rankings include nine public charter schools that are new to the top 100 this year. Congratulations to these charter schools for being recognized as the top public high schools in the nation!
Starting next week: plenty of stories from two weeks of travel in Guam and Hawaii to celebrate charter schools. National Charter Schools Week took on special meaning for me this year. I can't wait to share what I learned.
Charter school students and teachers are doing amazing things around the globe!