From: Khalilah LeGrand
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2018 7:08 PM
Subject: News Release: Maury, Norview, and Granby among best high schools in the country!
Media Contact: Khalilah LeGrand
Office of Communications and Media Relations
Office: 757.628.3459
Maury, Norview, and Granby among best high schools in the country!
U.S. News & World Report released their annual list of best high schools in the country for 2018. Of those 103 Virginia schools, 23 are located in and around the Hampton Roads area. The schools are ranked with a national silver, gold or bronze medal based on student performance, graduation rates, test performance, and college readiness levels. This is the first year that graduation rates factored into the ranking system. Dr. Kipp Rogers, Chief Academic Officer, said, “we are pleased with the progress that NPS is making with respect to student achievement. This is a direct result of our district turnaround effort, #NPSRedesign, and an even truer testament to the exemplary and innovative work of our faculty and staff combined with the academic fortitude of our students.”
The district has benefited from stability in its leadership and a keen focus on leadership, literacy, and rigor, which has yielded significant gains in accreditation over the last two years. Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Melinda Boone, was excited, but not surprised to find several of NPS’ high schools on the list, she stated, “The wheels of progress continue to turn, I am beaming with pride that our teachers, students and support staff can revel in this accomplishment. We look forward to all of our high schools being named the best in the country very soon!”
Of 28,813 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 20,548 schools met the established criteria to be ranked. Three Norfolk schools, made this prestigious list in the Silver Award category out of 28,813 public schools. Maury High School ranked #24 in Virginia rankings and #1197 in the national rankings, Norview stands at #38 in Virginia and #2369 nationally and Granby High School is ranked #41 in and #2418 in Virginia and national rankings respectively.
To view the list of schools click here https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools. For more information on the U.S. News & World Report ranking system visit https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/rankings-faq.
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 
I myself am an old graduate of Princess Anne H.S. in Virginia Beach —- another VA high school way back when that had a great reputation. Warren Spencer
As a father of a child with a disability from the Maury district, I would like to add that NPS is documented on the VDOE website as currently the worst performing special education program in all of the 132 Virginia Public School divisions, with 24 of 40 possible points on the latest Results Driven Accountability Matrix data, from 2015-2016. This includes graduation rate of 34.38% for persons with a disability, which is below the State Target of 57.84%, and is also the lowest in the 7 Hampton Roads Cities. There is also a documented significant discrepancy in the rate of suspension by race. The NPS administration and School Board are fully aware of this educational disaster, but have yet to properly address it. It is sad that U.S. News did not publish this information as well, as it affects every disabled child in the City.