Ron Cassie, The Examiner
2006-05-19 09:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

Newsweek magazine named Baltimore City College one of the best public high schools in the country in an in-depth look at education, listing the 167-year-old institution at No. 203 in survey of the top 1,200 schools. With an estimated 27,500 public high schools across the nation, that easily fits City College into the top 1 percent of all high schools.

Dallas’ School for the Talented and Gifted was ranked No. 1.

City College also was one of only a handful of top schools with 50 percent or more of its population eligible for free or reduced lunches.

“I think what is really amazing is this goes against everything that is said about urban education,” said City College Principal Tim Dawson. “Ninety-two percent of our students are African-American. Our kids come from very different backgrounds, sometimes difficult backgrounds, but we have students every year accepted into Brown, Columbia and Duke. Last year, we had 14 kids accepted into Johns Hopkins, and they all received academic scholarships.”

In its Best High Schools list, which appeared in the May 8 issue of Newsweek, the magazine said its aim is “to recognize schools that do the best job of preparing average students for college.”

High School in Baltimore County was No. 156, and the only local high school ranked higher than City College.

In its criteria, Newsweek divided the number of Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate tests taken by the number of graduating seniors. The measure, the magazine says, shows schools are committed to helping students take college-level courses.

Dawson and Assistant Principal Cindy Harcum agree.

“One-hundred percent of our graduates were accepted into college last year and 89 percent were accepted into four-year schools,” Harcum said.

“We have high standards and a rigorous and the elite colleges in the country see that,” Dawson said. “Our kids are prepared.”

The philosophy at City College, Dawson and Harcum explained, is to raise the expectations for every student.

They said the AP course work and exams are important in increasing the breadth of students’ knowledge, but stressed the still-expanding International Baccalaureate program, which stresses synthesis, evaluation, analysis and critical thinking, is playing a major role in preparing students for college-level work.

Harcum said the growing emphasis on Advanced Placement and IB work falls in line with the school system’s master plan guidelines and believes similar expanded programs at other Baltimore high schools will help city students and the school system’s performance overall.

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com