East Grand Rapids High School Down
263 Notches in National Rankings
Newsweek‘s Best High Schools
| Year | EGR National Rank | Change | EGR State Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 425 |  | 8 | |
| 2011 | 162 | 3 |
EGR High School slid significantly in Newsweek rankings
East Grand Rapids High School slid 263 spots to #425 in the national rankings.
Among Michigan high schools, it fell from #3 to #8.
Newsweek’s ranking factors show several declines from 2011, including:
- Lower graduation rates
- Lower percentage of college-bound students
- Lower SAT scores
- A smaller percentage of students taking advance placement tests
Newsweek‘s ranking methodology is heavily weighted by graduation rate (25%), whether graduates immediately enter college (25%), and whether students take advance placement tests (25%). Newsweek‘s ranking shows a 96% four-year on-time graduation rate for EGRPS and says 98% of high school graduates immediately enter college. Accordingly to the 2010 census, 95.5% of EGR residents over 25 have graduated high school; 77.3% hold at least a bachelor’s degree; and the median household income is $99,489. Highly educated parents make sure they send their kids to college, and high median incomes give them the means to do so. So the fact the graduation rates and college entry percentages are high may have more to do with the household demographics than with the educational services of the district.
Perhaps better measures of the effectiveness of the district’s educational services are average SAT and ACT scores. These help isolate students’ abilities from parents’ income and educational objectives. The chart below gives you some insight into how EGR grads compare to other area schools on Newsweek’s list.
Other Ranked Area Schools
Other area schools in Newsweek's top 1000 ranked schools
SCHOOL NATIONAL
RANKGRADUATION
RATE% COLLEGE
BOUNDAVG SAT AVG ACT
Forest Hills Central 467 97% 93% 1993 24.7
Forest Hills Northern 821 91% 94% 1906 23.2
East Grand Rapids 425 96% 98% 1755 24.4
Forest Hills Eastern 638 97% 94% 1752 23.0
Notes:
- SAT scores are the sum of writing, math, and critical reading scores
- ACT scores are likely from spring 2011 and likely reflect students’ best scores. All Michigan students take the ACT as part of the Michigan Merit Exam (MME). Students may retake the ACT after the MME in an attempt to better their scores. There is a post on this blog regarding East Grand Rapids students’ ACT scores from the MME.
See Newsweek‘s rankings and ranking methodology.