Alabama’s 7 most challenging high schools

The Washington Post’s annual ranking of the country’s most challenging high schools is out and seven Alabama schools are on the list, which The Post refers to as “The Challenge Index.”

“The index score is the number of college-level tests given at a school in the previous calendar year divided by the number of graduates that year,” the Washington Post explains. “Also noted (but not included in the score) are the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for lunch subsidies and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career.”

If a school achieved a score of “1” on The Challenge Index, that means they administered the same number of college-level tests in 2013 as they had graduates.

The top Index Score in the country this year is 21.909 by American Indian Public Charter. That means the Oakland, Calif. school administered a whopping 21.909 college-level tests for every one student who graduated.

Alabama doesn’t have any schools ranked quite that high on the list, by one Birmingham Metro Area school does stand out above the rest of the Yellowhammer State when it comes to challenging its students: Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School in Irondale.

JCIB is a public International Baccalaureate school located on the campus of Shades Valley High School, which is part of the Jefferson County school system. After tenth grade, students take almost exclusively Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. JCIB scored an 11.214 on Washington Post’s Challenge Index, good enough for 12th nationally.

JCIB has become so well-known for its academics that “JCIB Bookworm” gear has become popular online.

Montgomery’s LAMP (Loveless Academic Magnet Program) was the second highest ranking Alabama school, coming in at #50 nationally with an Index Score of 6.907.

4 of the 7 Alabama schools on the list are located in the Birmingham Metro Area. Montgomery and and Mobile have one school each, and Buckhorn High School located north of Huntsville rounds out this year’s list.

Washington Post’s Challenge Index certainly isn’t the definitive word on what schools in the state of Alabama are challenging their students, but it’s an interesting metric that excludes easy-to-manipulate data like passing rates, which some schools keep artificially high by only allowing their top students to take college-level tests.

You can view the full 1,900-school list on Washington Post’s website. The Alabama schools on the list can be found below.

What do you think about Washington Post’s Challenge Index? Is it accurate? Are there more challenging schools in Alabama that didn’t make the list? Let us know in the comment section below or by tweeting @YHPolitics.

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