Beachwood Contests U.S. News & World Report Ranking

Beachwood High School was ranked Ohio’s 50th-best high school in the U.S. News & World Report, but district officials say a mistake was made.

The magazine ranks high schools across the country based on proficiency scores and college readiness while factoring in economic disadvantages.

Spokesperson Doug Levin said that the senior class enrollment figure was wrong – by quite a bit – which drove down the school’s ranking in advanced placement test scores.

The magazine reports that  had 207 seniors in the 2009-2010 school year – the year whose rankings were released this week – but the district counts 139 seniors.

That’s a 149 percent increase.

In the 2009-2010 Ohio Department of Education report card, Beachwood High School's enrollment is listed as 595, but the magazine lists it at 667.

Levin said that the district believes the enrollment numbers erroneously counted “dual enrolled” students – those who are in Excel TECC classes or special education classes that are shared between several schools.

A student who attends Mayfield High School but is enrolled in the Beachwood High School Green Dream Excel TECC class, for example, would have been counted twice – once at Mayfield and once at BHS.

These students have not been counted twice in the past, though dual enrolled students have been at BHS for several years, said Levin.

A representative from the magazine could not be contacted before publication time, but we will update this story when we receive more information.