Owings Mills High School and Frankin High School are among 15 Baltimore County public schools recently named to the Washington Post's America's Most Challenging High Schools list.
The list, which has been published by the Post since 1998, highlights the achievements of more than 2,000 high schools across the nation in providing their students with challenging course work.
"We feel good," said BCPS assistant superintendent Mark Bedell. "I mean, it's actually an increase from the previous year of 14, and we ultimately would love to see all of our schools on that list as we continue to progress with some of the work we're doing in the county. Generally, we've had a strong focus on Advanced Placement and looking at excess and equity and making sure that all of our kids have an equal opportunity to take some of the more rigorous courses."
The list "measures a school's academic rigor by comparing the number of graduates per year with the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge tests taken by students at the school," according to a news release.
"The simplest way that it's computed is by taking the number of Advanced Placement tests taken by students and dividing it by the number of students in the graduating class," said Patrick McCusker, principal of Franklin High School, in Reisterstown, which ranked number No. 77 on the list. "It's a ratio that James Matthews of the Washington Post came up with many years ago … what it shows you is that we are doing a good job in challenging our students to take really rigorous college-level classes while they're still in high school."
Bedell said encouraging students to take Advanced Placement courses has been an integral part of the strategic plan put forth by Superintendent S. Dallas Dance in 2013.
"As a county, that's been a major focus of ours — it's a part of our theory of action," he said. "One of the things was that we had an expectation that ultimately we want all of our kids to at least take one Advanced Placement course before they graduate. We're still working towards it … we have increased with the percentage of kids that are actually taking Advanced Placement classes. So absolutely, we are doing a much better job with that than what we were doing in the past."
Owings Mills High School ranked No. 114 on the list. While Principal Abbey Campbell said she's proud of the accomplishment, she also said she isn't very surprised by the recognition.
"I think its fantastic news, but at the same time it's not so much news to us, but a reflection on the students, teachers, parents, the community and the expectations they have for the students regarding their education," Campbell said. "Students are really seeking opportunities to take higher-level courses. I know our staff did a great job of communicating with students and families the benefits of taking higher-level courses in preparing for college."
Campbell said staff members at Owings Mills High have been working to ensure that students are prepared for advanced classes well before they take them. But while they encourage all students to try more rigorous course work — and strive to ensure they are academically able to do so — she said the ultimate decision of whether to take the classes lies with the student.
"Really, we've been working with teachers at preparing all students," Campbell said. "Ideally, I would love for all students to have the knowledge and skills to be able to take advanced courses before they graduated … and they may not get there at the same time, but we should not be deciding for kids what course level they should take … We're preparing them all for the highest level of courses. And it's not as though we're saying which kids should take courses; we're preparing everybody and inviting everybody and the parents and students are making those decisions themselves and the teachers are supporting them in that journey."
McCusker said Franklin High's ranking on the list serves as evidence of the school's success in its efforts to produce college-ready graduates.
"Our mission statement at Franklin says that we're going to be second to none in terms of preparing students for life after high school," he said. "And the majority of our students do go right on to college when they leave here, so the fact that we are giving them a chance to take college-level courses in a familiar setting in their high school and be successful in those courses lets us know that we're meeting our mission in terms of preparing them to be successful in college."
McCusker said FHS strives to offer a wide range of advanced courses and, like Owings Mills High, aims to prepare students for such classes as well as possible.
"The teachers for Advanced Placement programs are required to get College Board training, so that occurs in the summers, and even like ninth- and 10th-grade teachers get some training in what skills the students need to have and learn in early grades to be successful in Advanced Placement programs, which are mostly junior and senior years."
Both principals said their schools also work to educate students and their families about the advanced course work that is offered.
"Every fall, as we're going through the registration process, [we are] making sure that students are aware of the courses that we offer," McCusker said. "We offer an Advanced Placement information night for families … it's usually held in January, because that's when students are registering for the next year. We bring back alumni to talk to the families and current students about the Advanced Placement program, and the alumni talk about how the courses they took here set them up to be successful now that they are in college."
Bedell said the placement of 15 Baltimore County Public Schools on the list is a reflection of the efforts staff members, teachers and officials are undertaking to provide more opportunities for students.
"It's an honor, because what it's telling you is the county is changing, just from the standpoint of what our kids bring to the table," he said. "And some of our kids are coming in and they've had significant exposure to some of the things in this world and some have had very limited exposure … we want to open up their eyes and their ears and expose them to what this world has to offer. We want them to be globally competitive … and to do that, we want to make sure they're taking advantage of some of the competitive classes we have to offer."
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