By: Sharon Aron Baron
One Broward County public high school made the top 100 “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” 2016 list by The Washington Post.
Fort Lauderdale High School ranks 57 in the nation and 13 in the state, due to their success on providing access to advanced coursework to all students. Fort Lauderdale High School is both a magnet and a mainstream school. Their magnet program offers a rigorous course of study in either pre-law or a Cambridge program that students from all over Broward County can apply to attend.
Tamarac resident Tara Piatek wanted her son Seth to go to JP Taravella High School, which was close to home, however, Seth had learned about Fort Lauderdale High School while he was an eight-grader at Millennium Middle School and wanted to go there instead.
“I actually fought him on it,” said Piatek. “My friend literally smacked me and told me to listen to him. She couldn’t believe how closed-minded I was which isn’t normal with me and education. We went to an open house, and I fell in love with the school.”
Piatek said she had a good feeling about the school and realized it was a perfect fit for her son.
“Principal Ribeiro encourage the students to get involved in the school clubs as well.”
Her son will be graduating this week with a 3.75 unweighted GPA and the college courses he has already passed will be applied to his studies at the University of Florida.
In all, 26 Broward County Public Schools high schools earned placement on “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” list of nearly 2,300, which annually evaluates all 23,000 U.S. public high schools based on the number of graduating seniors taking Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests before graduation.
“Our high schools have raised the bar by providing opportunities for all of our students to enroll in advanced classes,” said Superintendent Robert W. Runcie. “If you challenge students, students will meet the challenge. We’re seeing this happen throughout our District, and this national recognition validates the work of our high schools and students.”
The list evaluates schools on how widely they provide access to Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or Advanced International Certificate of Education classes (AICE). “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” ranks schools through an index formula that’s a ratio of the number of AP, IB and AICE tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year.
See BCPS high schools national and state rankings below:
| “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” |
National Rank |
State Rank |
|
Fort Lauderdale High School |
57 | 13 |
| Cypress Bay High School |
131 |
30 |
| Nova High School |
248 |
53 |
| McFatter Technical High School |
280 |
60 |
| Pompano Beach High School |
354 |
75 |
| Miramar High School |
549 |
114 |
| Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School |
592 |
119 |
| Atlantic Technical High School |
603 |
124 |
| South Broward High School |
694 |
132 |
| Deerfield Beach High School |
837 |
151 |
| Stranahan High School |
856 |
154 |
| Western High School |
879 |
160 |
| West Broward High School |
984 |
180 |
| Cooper City High School |
1021 |
184 |
| J.P. Taravella High School |
1183 |
208 |
| Boyd Anderson High School |
1289 |
223 |
| South Plantation High School |
1295 |
225 |
|
Monarch High School |
1457 |
247 |
| Coral Springs High School |
1654 |
277 |
| Flanagan High School |
1744 |
288 |
| Coral Glades High School |
1937 |
314 |
|
Northeast High School |
1970 |
320 |
| Piper High School |
1985 |
324 |
| Plantation High School |
2092 |
340 |
| Hallandale High School |
2164 |
348 |
|
Hollywood Hills High School |
2184 |
351 |
