Thursday, September 12, 2019


MATHEWS' CHALLENGE INDEX:
HIGH SCHOOLS OFFERING RIGOROUS CURRICULUM

Jay Mathews is an education columnist for the Washington Post. He's published the Challenge Index since 1998, first under the umbrella of Newsweek Magazine and then for the Washington Post. This year, he assembled the index on his own, and published it in May.

The Index is a ranking system that uses a simple formula to achieve an indicator of rigor in a high school system. Take the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams and divide by the number of on-time graduating seniors at the high school. If the ratio is greater than 1, the schools is eligible 

Each of the Boise District's 4 comprehensive high schools have been ranked on the Challenge Index for 11 consecutive years. Boise and Timberline have been ranked for a longer period of time, Boise since 1998 (the inception of the list) and Timberline since 2002.

Charters and Private Schools

Mathews takes data from Charter and Private Schools and includes them in the index. For the 2019 rankings, North Star Charter (116) Riverstone (Private, 5.7), and Coeur d'Alene Charter (2.6) were included on the list. 

Comprehensive High Schools

Here are the rankings for the Idaho comprehensive high schools included on the 2019 list:


Vallivue High School has made the list for a number of years. The district's new high school, Ridgevue, has joined Vallivue on the list. It's impressive that both of these schools, with half their students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, give so many exams.

Participation in Mathew's Challenge Index wad won this year. It appears to have been less known than in previous years, perhaps because it was not sponsored by the Post. In past years, Century High School in Pocatello has been a top performer. 

Still, over 2,500 high schools were listed, so we can make a few comparisons.

In Washington, the Bellevue high schools continue their stellar performance in the index, with all comprehensive high schools ranked in the top 250 in the country. Sammamish High School, with 35% free/reduced lunch, gave over 5 exams per graduating senior - amazing. Bellevue remains a district with results that we aspire to in Boise.

Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane (2.6 ratio, 35% frl), Edmonds Woodway High School in Edmonds (2.1, 30%), and Union High School in Camas, WA (2.2, 25%) had results similar to those of Borah and Capital.

We will provide more information on Advanced Placement results in Boise and around Idaho in the next few posts.