E. C. Glass and Heritage high schools were among less than 2,000 schools nationwide included this year in the Washington Post's ranking of America's Most Challenging High Schools.
E.C. Glass placed 48th among the Virginia schools on the list, and 700 out of the 1,937 total schools recognized nationwide. This number was up from 874 nationally last year. Heritage High School placed 71st out of all ranked schools in Virginia, and 1,207 out of the nationwide list. This number was up from 1,292 last year.
Eligibility for this honor is based on the number of college-level tests, such as Advanced Placement tests, given in the school each year divided by the number of graduates for that year. E. C. Glass had an index of 2.433 and Heritage had an index of 1.761, both improvements from the previous year.
According to the Washington Post's high school challenge, only 9 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools managed to reach the standard of at least a 1.0 index to be placed on the list. The rating is intended to reveal the level of a high school's commitment to preparing average students for college. Research has found that average students who take AP classes in high school perform significantly better in college than similar students who do not take AP classes.
Lynchburg City Schools continues to provide the most AP courses in the area, and we are committed to our goal of increasing the number of students taking advanced courses each year, as stated in the Achievement section of the 2012-2014 LCS Comprehensive Plan.