By TIFFANY RAZZANO
Though the school was ranked at 42, while last year it was 32 on the list, Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of the Rockville Centre school district, and the school's principal, Dr. Carol Burris are extremely happy with the results.
"What has happened is that it appears as though [Newsweek] has actually added some new schools into the mix," Burris said. "We're still doing extremely well. Our actual ratio has improved. In terms of Long Island, we're doing extremely well. Very few Long Island schools are on the list." This year's index ratio, on which the rankings are based, went up to 4.433 from 4.2 last year. Figures are based on data from the 2005-2006 school year. The index is determined by the number of students taking Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests, divided by the number of graduating seniors. Burris says last year 74 percent of the graduating class left having taken one IB or one AP course.
"There are 27,000 high schools in the country," Johnson said. "I think to be among the top five percent of the 1,200 they identify, and then to be within the top 100 beyond that is a real credit to this community, the decisions our kids make to challenge themselves, and the incredible work of our staff at South Side High School."
Burris says that she is especially proud of her staff and students because of their high Excellence in Equity rating of 70 percent, which is based on how well students performed on AP and IB tests, rather than on how many take the tests. The number reflects the percentage of students in the senior class who graduated having achieved at least one four or better on an IB exam or one three or better on an AP exam. "What that shows is that not only do we have lots of kids taking the exams, but our kids are also doing very well on the exams," Burris said.
Last year SSHS also conducted a telephone survey of all students from the 2002 graduating class called "Does IB Matter?" The students, who last spring should have been preparing to graduate from college, were simply asked whether or not they were graduating. "What we found is if students took at least two IB courses in English and math, they were more likely to graduate from college in four years," Burris said. "That showed us that IB is really excellent preparation for college."
Burris says that of the 86 percent of the Class of 2002 SSHS was able to contact, 62 percent earned their B.A. in four years. "But, this part is really important, if the student did not take any IB courses, only 33 percent graduated on time," she said. "Of students who took one IB course, 60 percent graduated. Of students who took two or more IB courses, 90 percent graduated in four years. What we learned, essentially, was what we expected. The chances of them graduating college really increases."
The Rockville Centre School District is also happy with its school district report card, released by the New York State Department of Education two weeks ago. Though some test scores varied several points in either direction from the previous year's report card, scores remained mostly unchanged. "The most disappointing number was the eighth grade English test scores," Johnson said. "We consider that an anomaly, but that has already reversed itself. The 2006 data that just came in shows the number is back up to 85 percent passing." Comments about this story? TRazzano@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 221.
