Schools
Norcross, Meadowcreek Make Top Schools List
The schools have been named two of the state's most challenging high schools by The Washington Post.
The Washington Post recently posted its rankings of America's most challenging high schools, and two Norcross schools made top marks for the state of Georgia.
Both Norcross High and Meadowcreek High made the list. The Blue Devils school ranked No. 6 in the state, while the Mustangs reached No. 23.
Over the last few years, Norcross has been traveling up the list while Meadowcreek has declined. Last year, Norcross was No. 7, and in 2011 it ranked at No. 14; Meadowcreek was No. 21 in 2012 and No. 19 the year before.
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According to the article, the ranking is based on an index formula that's a ratio: the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given each year is divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year.
Norcross High is one of the few schools in the area to have an IB program. It has 17 IB courses and 23 AP courses, with 17 varsity sports. Meadowcreek has 19 AP courses and 10 varsity sports.
Find out what's happening in Norcrosswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Post also shows percentages of students from each school 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 (equity and excellence).
For Meadowcreek, the lunch subsidies is 89 percent and the equity and excellence score is 27 percent for the 2013 list. Norcross reached a 66 percent for lunch subsidies and a 50 percent for equity and excellence. Both schools have seen an increase in those percentages since 2011.
The top school in the state is the Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Tech in Lawrenceville, which also ranked No. 1 last year. South Forsyth High in Cumming came in second, with Walton High in Marietta following at No. 3. John S. Davidson Fine Arts in Augusta is No. 4, and the school right above Norcross' No. 6 spot is the DeKalb School of the Arts.
To see more schools, see the article on the Washington Post.
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