For the first time since Newsweek magazine began ranking America's "best" high schools in 1998, Lowell has cracked the list, earning the 26th spot. The rankings, developed by Washington Post writer Jay Matthews, are based upon his Challenge Index, which is calculated by dividing the total number of Advanced Placement exams administered at a school by the number of graduating seniors. The intent of this yardstick is to recognize those high schools that encourage a broad cross-section of their student body to challenge themselves with the demanding curriculum of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. The latest rankings, published in Newsweek's May 8th issue, are based upon data from the 2004-2005 school year, when Lowell students sat for a total of 2,726 AP exams, thus earning a Challenge Index score of 4.462. (Nationally, only 43 schools boast a Challenge Index score above four.)
Although Lowell's Advanced Placement program has long been one of the nation's finest and largest, Newsweek had previously barred Lowell - along with all other schools that admitted half of more of their students based upon academic merit - from its rankings. But this year, the magazine recognized that this rule had "penalized some inner-city magnet schools that had high Challenge Index ratings."
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More than 1,700 alumni and other friends have helped fuel the progress of our 2005 Annual Fund Campaign with their generous donations,
allowing us to fund some of the special projects to benefit today's Lowell students. Most importantly, the Lowell Alumni Association
continued its strong partnership with the Lowell PTSA by providing $100,000 earlier this year to help Lowell maintain the teachers,
counselors, librarians and other staff needed to support Lowell's unique and varied curriculum.
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