Early College Earns Top Accolades

Several Guilford County schools last week earned high marks in a national survey.
 

The Early College at Guilford earned recognition among the nation's best high schools, according to rankings released by Newsweek and The Daily Beast.  The annual list of America's Best High Schools placed the Early College at Guilford at 21st in the nation.  The school also earned the number one ranking among North Carolina high schools, and 14th in the South.  Dr. Terry Worrell, Guilford County Schools' Central Region Superintendent, explains that a number of factors at Early College contributed to the high ranking… among them, the personalization needed by each student… and rigor.

“We're talking about academic rigor,” she says, “and very high expectations for asking students to take the information they've learned, and then to apply what they've learned.  And many times, in something that is very creative, possibly a completely new product that they are designing from the information they've learned.”

And, Dr. Worrell says the school environment and faculty are equally important.  “It is a very supportive environment at the Early College at Guilford, where students are working together, each and every day from the time they begin as ninth graders, until they graduate from high school.  And just outstanding teachers,” she says.

Penn-Griffin School for the Arts, and Weaver Academy were both ranked among the top ten schools in North Carolina… in total, 20 Guilford County schools were included in the America's Best High School list.  Rankings were based on graduation rate, college acceptance rate, college-level exams taken per student, SAT/ACT scores and percentage of students enrolled in at least one AP or IB course.