Magazines say IA, Central, Northern among the best

A pair of national publications have given high marks to three west Oakland County high schools.

U.S. News and World Report ranked the International Academy, with campuses in Bloomfield Hills and at Huron Valley Lakeland High School in White Lake Township, as the No. 1 international baccalaureate (IB) school in the country and No. 1 school in the state of Michigan.

The academy has also been named the fifth best school in the nation. It was also awarded the prestigious Gold Medal, an award bestowed on few of the over 22,000 schools from across the nation in the running.

The International Academy is the only IB school in the Top 10 nationally.

“This is a tremendous honor,” said Lynne Gibson, principal of the International Academy. “We are indeed fortunate to have dedicated and knowledgeable staff, curious and motivated students, engaged and involved parents, and supportive consortium districts. Our high academic expectations combined with our student-centered culture makes us exceptional.”

The ranking process involved three steps that include the state average on standardized testing and a comparison of International Academy students to this average; the state average on standardized testing of minority or low-income students and a comparison of International Academy students to this average; and the College Readiness Index.

In addition, two of the Walled Lake Consolidated School District’s high schools were recently listed by Newsweek as being among the top 1,001 high schools in the nation.

The list was based on six components that were provided by school administrators: Graduation rates; the college matriculation rate; Advanced Placement (AP)/IB tests taken per student; average ACT/SAT scores; average AP/IB scores; and AP courses offered per student.

Graduation rate, college matriculation rate, and AP/IB tests taken accounted each for 25 percent of a school’s ranking. Test scores accounted for 10 percent each, while the number of AP courses offered per student made up 5 percent of the score.

Walled Lake Central High School was listed No. 702 with a graduation rate of 98 percent and a college matriculation rate of 94 percent. The average ACT score was 22.1. The average AP score was 3.2.

Walled Lake Northern High School was ranked No. 776 with a graduation rate of 96 percent. The average college matriculation rate was 91 percent. The average SAT score was 1,860, while the average ACT was a 21.9. The average AP score was 3.