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Valley Stream Central High School makes top 500 list

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Valley Stream’s Central High School was named by the Daily Beast as one of the top 500 high schools in the country in the news website’s 2014 edition of it’s annual high school rankings.

Valley Stream was placed 436 out of the best 500 high schools in the country. The Daily Beast previously published the annual rankings in conjunction with Newsweek. While Central High School Principal Joseph Pompilio congratulated those at the school, saying the rankings “demonstrate the hard work of teachers, guidance counselors, students and administrators,” he also said the school would not rest on its laurels. “We don’t really have any celebrations planned,” he said. “We’re going to push ahead and continue trying to provide the best education possible and concentrate on all of our current students.”

Valley Stream Central High School District Superintendent Bill Heidenreich congratulated the school’s teachers, staff, students and families and said the distinction was well-deserved. “The distinction really reflects well how hard everyone at the school works. Out of all the high schools in the United States, to have one of our own ranked at number 436 is really special.”

The rankings judged schools based on their performance across five categories. The Daily Beast first considered the graduation rates from the Department of Education’s statistics for the 2012-2013 school year, and contacted roughly 1,200 schools with graduation rates of at least 85 percent. Those schools were then considered based on graduation rates, college acceptance rates, student performance on college admission exams like the SAT and ACT, and academic rigor, which took into account performance in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Advanced International Certificate of Education classes and the tests associated with them. In the end, 700 of the 1,200 schools surveyed were ranked, with Central High School ranked 436 among the nation’s more than 30,000 high schools.

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