PEA RIDGE — Pea Ridge High School was named among the top 1,600 high schools in the country based on the number of students taking Advanced Placement exams.
Bentonville, Springdale Har-Ber, Springdale, Fayetteville and Rogers high schools also made the list.
Pea Ridge ranked 1,574 on the 2010 list of America’s Best High Schools by Newsweek, according to a news release. The schools named on the list are among the top 6 percent of schools in the country, according to the Newsweek Web site.
“We are giving more advanced placement tests than any other school our size,” said PRHS principal Rick Neal. “Because of our AAIMS grant, our students are receiving more training from teachers and more specialized instruction for students to be able to pass those tests. Research shows that even if they don’t pass the tests, with that instructions, our students will be better prepared for college than with concurrent classes.
The Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science grant is valued at $402,000 over a five-year period.
Advanced placement classes are offered for 10th through 12th grades, Neal said, and include math, literacy and science.
The number of students taking AP courses has increased, Neal said, with about 55 students taking AP courses five years ago and about 145 students in AP classes this past school year.
Each year, Newsweek recognizes schools that do an excellent job of preparing students for college and ranks them. The schools were selected based on the number of students who took an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exam divided by the number of graduating seniors.
Most of the nation’s colleges and universities award credit, advanced placement, or both based on successful performance on the Advanced Placement exams.
School, Pages 11 on 06/23/2010