RHS ranks high in state, nation

The Russellville City Schools system prides itself on a tradition of excellence, and this year’s U.S. News and World Report has confirmed this, as Russellville High School ranked 28 out of 376 high schools in Alabama.

With this ranking, RHS was also distinguished as one of the top 40 percent of high schools in the nation.

“I am extremely proud of our students, teachers and administrators, who are the ones that make a high rankling like this possible,” said RHS Principal Jason Goodwin. “They all work hard to achieve their goals inside and outside the classroom, and it shows.”

In the report, RHS received an 86.58 score out of 100. Goodwin said he takes pride in this ranking because of the criteria used to determine rankings.

The main factor is college readiness – indicated by, for example, how many students took and passed Advanced Placement exams or International Baccalaureate exams during the 2017-18 school year. There is a 64 percent AP participation rate at RHS.

Reading and math proficiency from testing accounts for 20 percent of the score. An additional 20 percent represents a school’s expected performance given a school’s student body characteristics, such as diversity and economic disadvantages. Of the student population at RHS, 52 percent of students are a minority, and 63 percent of students are economically disadvantaged.

Underserved student performance is 10 percent of the score. This evaluates a sub-group of underserved students and how well they scored on state assessments compared to non-underserved students among schools in Alabama.

There is also 10 percent of the score allocated for college curriculum breadth, which is the number of seniors who took and passed multiple AP/IB exams.

Graduation rate for the 2017-18 school year accounted for the final 10 percent of the score.
“We at RCS know how great our schools are and how hard our students and teachers work, but it’s nice to see that reflected in rankings like this,” said RCS Superintendent Heath Grimes. “To see RHS ranked right up there with other schools in our area and schools in other parts of the state who traditionally always place well on lists like these is a great indicator of the quality of education being provided at RHS.”