Beachwood High School Among Local Schools Excluded From Newsweek Ranking

Dear Beachwood Parents, Staff and Community Members,

Beachwood High School is one of many area high schools that were omitted from the recently-released annual Newsweek ranking of "America's Best High Schools."

These omissions are the apparent result of a change in Newsweek's ownership and research leadership team that led to their rankings being released despite missing data from many schools locally and nationwide.

An unofficial Newsweek examination of our data concluded that Beachwood High School would have been ranked above all but one area high school that appeared in the published rankings.

Changes to Newsweek's ratings formula were very favorable to BHS. According to Cleveland Magazine, BHS students once again earned the highest average SAT (1835) and ACT (26.0) scores of any public school in Northeast Ohio (excluding one school that tested only seven students for the SAT). Also, BHS students' average 2010 AP exam score was a 4.0. Our students' already-exceptional achievements in these areas continue to trend upward each year.

Rankings such as these are very important to Beachwood High School and our community. While we regret that BHS was omitted, this in no way diminishes the successes that our students and teachers continue to enjoy.

Sincerely,  

Robert P. Hardis, Principal
Beachwood High School

Dr. Richard Markwardt, Superintendent
Beachwood City School District