COAL TOWNSHIP - Two local high schools were awarded bronze medals in the 2012 U.S. News & World Report Best High School Rankings.
Mount Carmel Area and Shamokin Area high schools were among 137 Pennsylvania schools awarded a bronze medal. Seven state schools were awarded a gold and 49 a silver.
The report reviewed 752 Pennsylvania public high schools and 21,776 across the country.
"To even be recognized in the bronze category is a monumental accomplishment for a district like ours with limited resources and a high economically disadvantaged population," said Bernie Stellar, acting superintendent at Mount Carmel Area.
The number of economically disadvantaged students at both high schools approaches half of their respective student populations - 43 percent at Mount Carmel Area and 48 percent at Shamokin Area.
Ruby Michetti, curriculum coordinator at Shamokin Area, said many of her district's students enter school at risk.
"They are an entire grade level below the average when they enter kindergarten," she said.
By the time students reach the third grade and take their first Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests, the gap must be filled.
"The students need to make up an entire year minimum so they're on average with national norms across the country, not just the commonwealth," Michetti said.
Results
The report used data from 2009-10 state test results of high school students, like the PSSAs.
At Mount Carmel Area, 81 percent of the test-takers were proficient in reading and 79 percent in math; 73 percent of minorities or the economically disadvantaged were proficient, on average.
At Shamokin Area, 68 percent were proficient in both subjects; 61 percent of minorities or the economically disadvantaged were proficient, on average.
"The best way to look at it is our staff realizes what it takes to reach this level of proficiency; that's one of our goals," Stellar said. "I always tell our staff it's easier to teach smart kids, it's easier to teach kids with more resources. It's a greater challenge with students of low socioeconomic standards.
"Our staff's job is more difficult than those of affluent schools," he said.
Michetti commended all district teachers, from elementary through high school, with improving the district's performance in PSSAs and achieving the bronze medal in the U.S. News report.
She credited teachers for improving teaching strategies and classroom management skills, as well as undergoing professional development.
"The teachers have worked unbelievably with intense determination and concentration to raise their level of critical thinking skills within the classroom to real world, problem-solving skills at significant levels," she said.
"The entire credit of any award goes out to the entire teacher consortium, kindergarten through grade 12. Students don't just magically enter ninth grade and are able to improve their skills," she said.
Rankings
The rankings were determined by comparing and eliminating schools in three steps.
The first step was to compare each school's reading and math results in standardized tests, such as the PSSAs, and review how economically disadvantaged students fared, according to the report.
Schools who made the cut were then reviewed further, with scrutiny focused on their least-advantaged students, such as minorities or those from low-income families, to see if they were performing better than average for students with similar background in their state.
If those students' math and reading proficiency rates were better than their state's average, the schools moved on to the third and final step - college preparedness.
Shamokin Area and Mount Carmel made the first two cuts; however, they were not ranked for college preparedness.
According to the report, "A bronze medal school either does not offer any AP or IB courses, or its college readiness index was less than the median of 16.3 needed to be ranked silver."
Both districts offer AP courses.
U.S. News & World Report acknowledged that its standards for the college readiness index were lowered by 20 percent from its previous report.
Overall across the U.S., 500 schools earned gold, 1,508 silver and 2,869 bronze, meaning the two local districts beat out 16,899 schools nationwide.