Schools

Pine-Richland Ranks in Top 9 Percent of Nation's Most Challenging High Schools

The ranking was determined by the number of college-level tests given at a school in 2012 divided by the number of graduates that year.

Pine-Richland is one of only six schools in Allegheny County and 28 schools in Pennsylvania to be ranked in the Washington Post’s America’s Most Challenging High Schools listing.

Pine-Richland ranked no. 6 of the 28 Pennsylvania schools on the list. 

Other Allegheny Schools on the list include:

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  • No. 9. South Fayette
  • No. 11. Quaker-Valley
  • No. 17. North Allegheny
  • No. 18. Hampton
  • No. 27. North Hills

Rankings are based on the Challenge Index, which calculates participation in Advanced Placement exams in order to evaluate the rigor of high school curriculums across the nation.

This year’s Challenge Index is calculated by dividing the total number of AP tests taken in May 2012 by the number of 2012 graduating seniors. North Hills’ Challenge Index is 2.532.

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All schools on the listing have earned an index of at least a 1.0. This year, only 9 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools reached that standard.

While not a measure of the overall quality of the school, the rating provides an indication of the high school’s commitment to preparing average students for college. 

During the 2012-13 school year, Pine-Richland High School offered 15 college-level AP courses.

“AP, IB and AICE are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations.

Research has found that even low-performing students who got only a 2 on an AP test did significantly better in college than similar students who did not take AP,” according to Jay Mathews, the Washington Post education reporter who devised the Challenge Index.

The ranking formerly was sponsored by Newsweek magazine and known as America’s Best High Schools.

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