LHS awarded bronze medal by U.S. News
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
January 30, 2009
Libby High School is one of just 19 schools in Montana and the only Class A school in the state to receive a "bronze medal" award in U.S. News and World Report’s second annual list of "America’s Best High Schools."
The magazine analyzed more than 21,000 public high schools using data from the 2006-2007 school year. Criteria used to determine the best schools included results from reading and math tests, adjusted to factor in the percentage of economically disadvantaged students and compared to state averages, along with college-readiness performance, based on Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate test data
The top 100 high schools in the country with the highest college-readiness scores were awarded gold medals. The next 504 schools, based on their college-readiness scores, received silver medals. An additional 1,321 high schools were awarded bronze medals based on their performance under the math and reading proficiency criteria.
With the exception of Libby, all the schools in Montana receiving bronze medals were Class B or smaller. Discussing the award at last week’s school board meeting, LHS principal Rik Rewerts stressed that the honor doesn’t belong to the high school alone.
"It’s the whole district doing the job, and I think that’s important," Rewerts said.
The district should now set a goal of being the first school in Montana to receive a gold or silver medal, Rewerts said.
"We’re really not far," he said. "We really aren’t."
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Editor’s Note: See the January 27, 2009 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, now on Tuesday, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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