By Arlene Hinkemeyer
The top 100 schools were listed in the article, while all 739 were listed on Newsweek's Web site, Newsweek.com.
South High School ranked 215th, Central ranked 238th, and North was No. 677.
Mathews created the ranking system in 1998 by developing what he calls the "Challenge Index," a "measure of each school's effort to expose its students to the most challenging courses possible."
The index is a ratio, the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by students at the school, divided by the number of June graduates. "Challenging kids by encouraging them to take tough high school courses produces students who can succeed later in college," Mathews has written.
Altogether there were 38 Long Island high schools on the top-739 list, putting them in the top 4 percent of all American high schools by this measure. The other 35 schools besides Valley Stream were Jericho, Manhasset, Great Neck South and North, Cold Spring Harbor, Wheatley, Hewlett, Miller Place, Syosset, Rockville Centre's South Side, Bellmore-Merrick's Kennedy, Calhoun and Mepham, East Hampton, North Shore, Roslyn, Garden City, Floral Park, Half Hollow Hills East and West, Port Washington's Schreiber, Harborfields, Herricks, Elwood's John Glenn, Plainview-Old Bethpage's JFK, Oyster Bay, Smithtown, Ward Melville, Lynbrook, Lawrence, Huntington, Kings Park, Northport, Baldwin and Commack.
Three years ago, in the March 13, 2000 issue of Newsweek, Central, North and South High Schools were included in the top 318.
It was five years ago, in March 1998, when Mathews first publicized the Challenge Index in a book titled, "Class Struggle," which examined the strengths and challenges of the top 10 percent of the 21,000 public high schools in the nation.
At the time, Central, North and South High Schools were already on the list of what were then the top 230 high schools in the nation. The Valley Stream district was one of only two school districts in the nation to have as many as three high schools on the list.
"We are obviously pleased that all three Valley Stream high schools ... have achieved this significant status," said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ronald D. Valenti. "We continue to work hard to increase Advanced Placement participation and success rates, with the goal of advancing to the top 100 USA high schools."
Arlene Hinkemeyer is the community coordinator for the Central High School District.
