Addison Trail and Willowbrook recognized as two of ‘America’s Most Challenging High Schools’

It’s no secret these are challenging times for public education – from new standards and assessments, to increased accountability, to maintaining a stable budget in a difficult economy.

But we continue to succeed at District 88 because of the dedication of our staff, Board of Education, parents/guardians and community members. Our students are achieving at the highest levels academically, as well as in sports and activities, and they continue to give back to their communities.

Because of that commitment, Addison Trail and Willowbrook have once again been recognized as two of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” by The Washington Post. “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” ranks schools through an index formula that’s a ratio of the number of college-level tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. A ratio of 1.000 means the school had as many tests as graduates. We recently were informed Addison Trail and Willowbrook ranked in the top 6 percent of U.S. public high schools for 2014. For details about the challenge, go to washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge.

Columnist Jay Mathews implemented this national ranking system for high schools, which formerly was in Newsweek, and District 88 has been ranked in his challenge index for seven consecutive years (since 2008).

District 88 is proud to provide a comprehensive and rigorous curriculum for students to prepare them for college and careers, and these accomplishments would not be possible without everyone working together to build futures for our students. It’s because of your continued support that we’re able to move forward and achieve our mission of working for the continuous improvement of student achievement.