District 88 receives national recognition – Addison Trail and Willowbrook named ‘Best High Schools’ by U.S. News & World Report

We are thrilled to share Addison Trail and Willowbrook have been named as “Best High Schools” by U.S. News & World Report.

This is one of the most substantial ranking systems with regard to school performance, and we’re elated to have both schools recognized for the second time. What makes this honor so prestigious is the comprehensive nature of the methodology used to determine the schools that receive the award. A three-step process is used to rank the “Best High Schools.” The first two steps ensure the schools serve all of their students well, using their performance on the math and reading parts of their state proficiency tests as the benchmarks. For those schools that make it past the first two steps, a third step assesses the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work.

According to U.S. News & World Report, “(The) comprehensive rankings methodology … is based on these key principles: that a great high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college bound, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show it is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators.”

Nearly 20,000 public high schools were reviewed, and 10.3 percent were awarded silver medals – including Addison Trail and Willowbrook. For more information about the U.S. News & World Report “Best High Schools” national rankings, go to http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings. 

We are proud of this national recognition, and we know it’s the result of the passion, dedication and hard work of our staff, students, parents/guardians, Board of Education members and community members. And we know that commitment continues each and every day – inside the classroom and beyond.

Thank you for your continued support of District 88 and for helping us accomplish our mission of working for the continuous improvement of student achievement.