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.
