Six area schools have been ranked by Newsweek magazine as among the best public high schools nationwide.

Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Richmond was recognized as one of 17 "elite" high schools for its rigorous academic program, students' SAT scores and the number of Advanced Placement and college dual-enrollment classes it offers.

Atlee High School in Hanover County and Clover Hill, James River, Monacan and Midlothian high schools in Chesterfield County were ranked among the top 5 percent of public high schools in the country.

Jay Mathews, who devised and compiles Newsweek's annual Challenge Index, doesn't include the elite schools in the top high school list. "Despite their exceptional quality, their sky-high SAT and ACT scores indicate they have few or no average students," the Newsweek report stated.

Doug Hunt, director for Maggie L. Walker, said the school doesn't take the ranking lightly.

"While I personally don't like the word ‘elite’ for fear it will be taken to mean ‘wealth,’ I appreciate . . . that we are listed in a group of the nation's best."

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria also made the elite list.

The top public high schools list -- 1,358 from across the country -- is derived by adding the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by students in 2007 and dividing it by the number of graduating seniors.

Schools that make the list administer at least as many tests as they have graduates.

"[The list] represents raising the bar for all students," said Debra Marlow, the Chesterfield school system's spokeswoman. "It validates the school division's work to have rigor and relevance in all programs of study."

Some education experts, however, have called Mathews' rankings formula into question.

"The formula does not include students taking the higher level AP and IB classes who choose not to take the AP or IB tests," said Jean Murray, assistant superintendent for instruction with the Henrico school system.

The index, she said, doesn't take into account other important measures of school success, such as graduation and dropout rates and students' extracurricular involvement.

That doesn't mean being on the list is necessarily undesirable. Murray said that according to Henrico school system data, Deep Run and Douglas Freeman high schools are eligible and will submit appeals to be on this year's list.
Contact Cynthia McMullen at (804) 649-6361 or cmcmullen@timesdispatch.com.

Times-Dispatch staff writers Lisa Crutchfield, Holly Prestidge and Zachary Reid contributed to this story.