Wards Corner Now – Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia

Dr Brad Robinson, Wards Corner resident and Norfolk School Board member, shares the below information about students who have received outstanding education at Norfolk Public Schools.

1.      Students at Norfolk’s Maury, Granby and Norview high schools are benefiting from among the most rigorous educational experiences offered in the region, state and nation, according to The Washington Post’s rankings of United States high schools. Maury ranks second in Hampton Roads, behind only one high school in Virginia Beach, and 36th in Virginia. Maury ranks 600 out of approximately 22,000 high schools in the country, which is in the top 3 percent. Granby is third in the region, 48th in Virginia, and 808th in the country, which places it in the top 5 percent of all high schools. Norview is eighth in the region, 74th in Virginia and 1,435 out of the approximately 22,000 high schools nationally. The Washington Post’s ranking essentially examines the proportion of students at each high school who are offered a chance at challenging course work through such programs as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate. Norfolk Public Schools has consistently emphasized participation in advanced-level coursework as an important way to help all students boost achievement, critical thinking and college-readiness skills. Participation at Booker T. Washington and Lake Taylor high schools has increased significantly as well. You can learn more about Norfolk Public Schools’ Advanced Placement efforts by watching the April 20th edition of “NPS Now,” featuring AP Teacher Specialist Andrea Disney and Maury AP English Teacher Toni Kershasky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxYWpK12z90 (advance to time stamp 20:06).

2.      Every year, The Virginian-Pilot sponsors the Scholastic Achievement Scholarship award and selects the top 10 finalists out of 52 students across Hampton Roads. Maury High School’s Emily Martell won the first place scholarship award for $10,000. Stacie Doughtie of Booker T. Washington High School made the list of top 10 finalists for this honor

3.      Miss Martel of Maury also was the overall winner out of 1,700 entries in the Friends of the Norfolk Library annual Book Review Contest.  Maury took 11 of the 12 awards at the high school level, and Ghent had a third-place winner at the fourth-grade level. The winners will be honored during a ceremony May 19 at 3 p.m. at the Slover Library.

4.      The Ruffner Young Scholars who recently were honored by the Board for their international recognition (NPS Website – Ruffner Young Scholars win major global award ) and who are featured on this week’s edition of “NPS Now” (NPS Now on Youtube)  will also participate in a taping for “Norfolk Perspectives” tomorrow, and will be honored at a City Council meeting on May 19 at 7 p.m.

For further information, Norfolk Public Schools has a press release (Maury, Granby and Norview High Schools Are Among the Nation’s Most Challenging, According to The Washington Post)  and the Washington Post coverage can be found here.