About 10 years ago, Washoe County School District administrators pushed trustees to adopt a policy: If high school students took College Board Advanced Placement classes, they also would be required to take the year-ending exams that gauge what they had learned in the rigorous college-level courses.
Students scoring three, four or five out of a possible five on the tests would receive college credit at many colleges and universities.
Little did the educators know that the three-hour exams would lead to acclaim from a national news magazine.
Seven Washoe schools have been ranked among the top 1,200 high schools in America for 2006, according to a recent edition of Newsweek.
McQueen, Wooster and Galena are in the top 500. Reno, Incline, Sparks and North Valleys made the top 1,000. Last year, six Washoe schools made the list.
"It verifies what we have believed all along, that a rigorous curriculum is vital to a quality high school and these rankings are based just on that," Superintendent Paul Dugan said. "Certainly, to have seven of our high schools on the list is something that makes us very proud."
Newsweek based the rankings on the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate final exams taken at a school in 2005, divided by the number of graduating seniors.
To many, the rankings put the Washoe schools squarely atop in the state and among the elite in America. Only one other school in Nevada, Green Valley of Henderson at No. 518, made the list.
"This is one of the goals of the Washoe County School District, to have the kids challenge themselves in the classroom," said Daryl DiBitonto, Wooster academic dean.
The rankings, however, have sparked an Advanced Placement debate among Washoe educators and students. Many question the validity of the Newsweek's ranking criteria.
And some are criticizing the wisdom of Washoe County's push to involve more and more students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes.
In 2005, 1,675 students in Washoe County took 3,296 AP final tests, according to district data. By 2013, the district's goal is to have two-thirds of its graduating seniors taking at least one AP class.
"I think we run the risk of reaching a tipping point, where we are putting kids in AP classes just to beef up our numbers," McQueen AP English teacher Candy Carter said. "That's not good. Some kids are not ready for that kind of rigor, either because they are too lazy or because they are underprepared because of what went on in middle school or elementary school."
"Just because students are in an AP class doesn't mean they are ready to do the work or willing to do the work," Carter said. "You have a certain curriculum to cover and if you have a lot of unwilling or unprepared students in there, you have a real problem on your hands."
Bogus system?
Some students called Newsweek's rankings bogus because they're based on the number of students taking the tests, not passing the tests. Quantity should not trump quality, they said.
"Our passing rate was much higher than McQueen's, but they beat us by 140 places," said Reno High senior Ari Bennett, who will attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in the fall. "So it begs the question, why are you ranking us based on our (AP) enrollment but not on our success rate? You would think that would be more important."
In other states, the criticism is harsher.
"Every student at the school can fail every AP test, but as long as lots of students take the tests, you can still be one of Newsweek's best high schools," Monroe Haas, a school trustee in New York's Westchester district, told the New York Times.
Defending Newsweek
Others defend Newsweek's system, saying study habits and time management skills, essentials for college success, can improve dramatically by enduring the rigors of an AP class.
"I took AP chemistry my junior year and didn't pass, and that was a bummer," Sparks High senior Raul Mazariego said. "But now, when I retake the class during my freshman year in college, I won't be shocked when they give me all this stuff to read. I'll know what is expected of me. It will really help with my frame of mind."
Data from the Washoe County School District backs up Mazariego's opinion.
Eighty-five percent of students who take AP classes in high school go on to four-year colleges or universities, according to Washoe data.
Sixty-one percent of students who take at least two AP exams graduate from college, compared to the 29 percent graduation rate in the general population.
"After students have taken four or six AP classes (in high school) and then go to college, it (college) becomes a doable thing," Sparks High AP government and history teacher Tami Curley said. "It is not something that they give up on because now, they have the skills, and that means they have the skills to do their homework every night and being prepared (for class) everyday.
"In high school, these kids learn how to balance all these things, and that is a very important skill that you'll need in college."
Other say the ranking system is not perfect but is credible.
"Anytime you start ranking schools, you are playing with fire," Carter said. "But you need something that is quantifiable and it (Newsweek's ranking system) is as good as anything.
"But there are a lot of other things about a school that doesn't show up in the numbers," Carter said. "It kind of misses the texture of a school. But it is definitely an indicator whether or not a school has some kind of official push to help prepare students for college and beyond."