The News Tribune

Emerald Ridge High School recently earned a spot on Newsweek’s list of the nation’s top schools.

The Puyallup school is in the top 5 percent of public high schools for its high rate of students taking college-level course exams, making it one of the magazine’s “America’s Top Public High Schools.”

Emerald Ridge also was among 22 in Washington state and the only one in Pierce County to make the list.

The home of the Jaguars ranked 1,138 out of 1,327 schools across the country that were included on the list.

Last year, Emerald Ridge students took 482 Advanced Placement exams, twice as many as they did in 2005 and quadruple the amount in 2004, according to a Puyallup School District press release.

Newsweek’s rankings were determined by taking the total number of AP, International Baccalaureate, and Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school and dividing that by the number of the school’s graduating seniors, according to the press release.

The district offers only AP classes. In 2006, the school had 411 graduates, yet students took 482 AP tests.

The number of students enrolled in AP classes through Puyallup schools has been steadily increasing in recent years; the district’s average pass rate is 48 percent.

Principal Brian Lowney said Emerald Ridge has made “huge efforts” to ensure students challenge themselves with rigorous courses.

“I would like to see all students at Emerald Ridge really stretching themselves academically,” Lowney said. “I am pleased with the level of support and effort our Advanced Placement teachers have put into both holding students to college-level standards and supporting them in achieving those standards.”

To see the list and accompanying stories, go to www.newsweek.com.