By Mary L. Grady

Once again, three Bellevue high schools have ranked in the top 100 of Newsweek magazine’s list of the best public high schools in America.

The ranking is driven primarily by student participation in what are considered college-level classes, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes. Newsweek magazine determined the rank of each school by the number of AP and IB tests taken at a school, divided by the number of graduating seniors.

The three schools are Interlake High School ranked 24th, Newport High School 32nd and Bellevue High School listed as 41st.

Mercer Island High school did not make this list.

But educators here are not distressed.

“Mercer Island High School offers both AP and honors courses. The Newsweek ranking is calculated by only using the number of AP tests taken (that are optional for students and are not part of their MIHS grade) divided by the number of seniors at the high school. Honors classes are not included in the equation,” explained Mercer Island School District superintendent Cyndy Simms. “All of our students have the opportunity to take numerous AP and honors courses. They receive an excellent education as evidenced by their WASL, SAT and ACT scores.”

However, more Mercer Island High School students who are enrolled in AP classes, are taking the test here. The tests cost students $75 each.

In 2000, 68 MIHS students took 79 AP tests (students may take tests in one or more subject) and of those, 90 percent received a grade of at least 3 out of 5. In 2004, 214 students took 326 tests, and 84 percent received scores of 3 or above with more than a quarter of MIHS test-takers receiving a score of 5.

Many say that the ratios in the Newsweek story are not indicative of the quality or academic challenge available for students.

Author of the story, Jay Mathews, acknowledges that the ratios have their limits, but said it is the strongest way to measure a schools success at challenging all students to perform at a high level.