1995 Top Seven California Public High Schools

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LEANAME                    Verbal    Math     Combined CA-Percentile  Rank  Change 95-AP-Pass
WHITNEY (GRETCHEN) HIGH     568       665       1233     100            1     0       3.7
GUNN (HENRY M.) HIGH        515       623       1138     92.3           2     0       1.6
PALO ALTO UNIFIED           528       609       1137     92.21          4     0       1.5
PALO ALTO HIGH              521       616       1137     92.21          3     0       1.3
SARATOGA HIGH               514       602       1116     90.51          5     3       1.4
PIEDMONT HIGH               518       595       1113     90.27          6     3       1.0
MONTA VISTA HIGH            483       628       1111     90.11          7     5       1.0

These are the top seven schools in California for 1995. The schools are ranked based on their combined Scholastic Aptitude test scores. An explanation of the scoring is available. These seven schools reflect the fact that out of approximately 730 public high schools in California, only 7 scored within 10% of the highest score. In contrast, 453 schools ranked below 70% of the top score. Put another way, schools that are not on this list failed to score above 90% of the leading California school scores. If the schools were being graded on this basis, only seven schools in the state would qualify for an "A" grade and 453 schools would receive a "D" or "F" grade.

Gretchen Whitney's scores are notable in that the school has held first place consistently from 1992 through 1995. The 95 point lead over the second place school, Gunn High is very impressive. The double wow is that Gretchen Whitney is only 40 points off the mark set by York Preparatory School. York is a highly regarded private school on the Monterey Peninsula.

Don't you wish your child could attend Gretchen Whitney?

Since there are no common standards for evaluating high schools, the variation in secondary education is quite large. Though there are only seven schools that qualify for an "A", 453 schools in California scored at a "D" or "F" level. Perhaps evaluating high school administrators and superintendents based on the average SAT scores for their schools would be an acceptable measure. If a high school is encouraging a child to pursue a post-secondary academic path, then it seems appropriate to measure the school's effectiveness by using a de-facto admission criteria to post-secondary education.