Jeffersonville High School shown in Washington Post rankings

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August 13, 2012

Jeffersonville High School shown in Washington Post rankings

School was only one in area ranked

By JEROD CLAPP jerod.clapp@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Mon Aug 13, 2012, 06:31 AM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — A hometown high school was recognized in the Washington Post’s 2012 High School Challenge.

Jeffersonville High School ranked eighth out of 19 schools in Indiana gauged — as well as 76 out 208 in the Midwest and 868 out of 2,008 in the nation.

On the Washington’s Post’s website, it says the challenge is a measure of how well a school tries to prepare its students for college by dividing the number of college-level tests — including Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests — by the number of graduates.

James Sexton, principal of Jeffersonville High School, said he thinks the recognition shows how seriously the school takes academics.

“I think what it does is wakes the community to the fact that Jeff High’s students are academically competitive,” Sexton said. “We hope to instill some rigor on those subjects, not just showing students come out saying, ‘I know something about that.’”

He said in the 2011-2012 school year, 881 students took AP tests out of the school’s 2,100 enrolled. He said through grants and a culture of taking AP courses, Jeffersonville High School was the only high school in Clark or Floyd counties shown in the rankings.

He said the school is one of the few in the state to get a National Math and Science Initiative grant — which pays $360,000 through three years — to help pay for the majority of an AP test, leaving the student contribution to $8.

But while that grant only pays for tests in math or science, he said the Greater Clark County Schools Educational Foundation also helps pay for tests outside of those subject areas, also only leaving students with $8 to pay.

Sexton said though the tests are inexpensive for students at his high school, there’s also a culture of students looking to take AP courses, whether it’s because they want deeper knowledge or because they have friends in those courses.

He said the school continues to add more sections in AP courses because more students continue to demand them.

But he said he hopes the school continues to improve in the rankings. For next year, Sexton said he wants Jeffersonville High School to be in the top five in Indiana, with an anticipated 915 to 1,000 students taking AP tests next year.

“It’s going to be more complicated as more schools start looking at their rankings,” Sexton said.