Local schools make national list

Four of Fayette County’s high schools are on the Washington Post’s list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools, placing them in the top 10 percent of all public high schools in the nation.

Fayette’s high schools making the list include McIntosh High, Starr’s Mill High, Whitewater High, and Fayette County High. Out of the nearly 2,300 high schools that made the national list, McIntosh ranked 975; Starr’s Mill ranked 1,186; Whitewater High ranked 1,348; and Fayette County High ranked 1,516, placing the schools in the top four, five, six, and seven percent, respectively.

The ranking is based on the total number of Advanced Placement tests given at a school each year and divided by the number of seniors who graduated in May. Public schools that achieved a ratio of at least 1.00, meaning they had as many tests in 2015 as they had graduates, were put on the national list. Only a little over 10 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools reached the minimum standard or above to earn placement on the list.