U.S. News & World Report‘s 2014 Ranking of Best High Schools has just been published, and New Hope-Solebury High School ranked #3 in Pennsylvania (out of 690) and #337 in the nation (19,400), attaining “national gold medal” honors.
New Hope-Solebury held the #7 spot in the last US News rating, published in 2012.
In 11th grade, Pennsylvania high school students take assessments in reading, writing, math and science, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and those tests factor into the rankings. The US News article also reveals that the AP® participation rate at New Hope-Solebury High School is 66 percent, the student body makeup is 52 percent male and 48 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 4 percent.
Said New Hope-Solebury Superintendent Dr. Raymond J. Boccuti, “While this is a shining credit to our outstanding high school, it is also a credit to our entire K-12 educational program, working in the community context of genuine commitment shared by students, staff members, School Board, parents, guardians, and community members.
“In these challenging times, this is certainly a worthy opportunity for all stakeholders to pause and proudly share in the celebration of this remarkable achievement,” he added.
Memo to the New Hope Solebury School District Administration: None are so blind as those with eyes that will not see and those with ears that will not hear.”
While the New Hope Solebury administration is jumping up and down and slapping each other on the back with congratulations and puffing out their chests with pride, they conveniently avoid the cold hard truth.(1)Only 54.8% of those kids surveyed by US New and World Report are College Ready! Do you think that the other 45.2% and their parents are jumping up and down with joy? Here’s another sad,but true fact.(2) While 66% of the students took AP courses, ONLY 51% of them passed i.e received a score of 3 or better out of 5 to qualify for college credit.(3)US NEWS and World Report DOES NOT include parochial and private high schools in its survey.The reality is that sooner than later public school kids will be competing with their non- public school counterparts in the job market.(4)Now there are those who will say that I am a naysayer and that I have diminished the accomplishments of the students.The fact is, the worst thing school administrators can do and they ARE doing it,is to give students and parents a false sense of accomplishment.I want to wake up parents and their kids, presenting the facts as painful as they are, in the hope that they will strive harder and demand more of what they are entitled to have from the New Hope Solebury Administration which in my opinion has a propensity for not telling it the way it really is.
First of all, we have to give credit where credit is due.(1)The number of public schools in Pa.or for that matter in the entire country that have a student teacher ratio of 12:1 in the high school,such as New Hope Solebury is very few and far between. So let’s credit the taxpayers for this one.(2) Since the percent of economically disadvantaged homes is just 3%, this allows a number of parents who feel that the district has let them down to spend thousands of dollars for private tutors not only for remediation, but for giving their kids the opportunity to fulfill their potential.