FALLING OUT OF PLACE
Following the end of the 2017-18 school year, U.S. News released their 2018 rankings for high schools across the nation. Peninsula was ranked the 29th best high school in California and 207th in the country. The school received a gold medallion for the national category, which is awarded to the top 501 high schools in the nation.
“I am not surprised by Peninsula’s ranking,” freshman Ronan Lee said. “[Peninsula has] always been academically strong. Our school is filled with many smart and talented kids. I am honestly surprised we are not ranked higher.”
While Peninsula has been a gold medal school for years, its overall ranking has dropped. After the 2015-16 school year, U.S. News ranked Peninsula 156th in the nation, over 50 positions higher than the current rank. After hearing these statistics, senior Kasey Chou was shocked at the ranking disparity within the short time span.
“I never imagined that Peninsula would go down [in rankings],” Chou said. “It makes me wonder what we did wrong or did not do well enough and where we need to improve.”
According to U.S. News, the ranking is determined by using a four-step methodology that breaks down the performance differences between each high school. They begin by assessing whether each school’s students statistically scored higher in comparison to other students within their state. They then look at whether the school’s historically underrepresented students, including African American, Hispanic and low-income students performed at or better than the state average. Afterwards, the high school’s graduation rate is compared to a benchmark set by U.S. News, which was 80 percent for 2018. Finally, schools that make it past all three stages become eligible to be judged according to criteria such as college-readiness performance, which is measured using Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate statistics.
Peninsula also ranked 130th in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) high school category. Even with the drop in rankings, Peninsula ranks among the top one percent of schools nationally for both high school and STEM high school category.
“I am proud of us. We are still better than a lot of other schools, and we are a very rigorous community,” junior Emily Bengtson said.
