College Prep in a Small School Environment

Peak to Peak Charter School


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 19, 2008

 

Contact:  Ashley Johnson

Director of Community Relations

303-453-4780

 

PEAK TO PEAK HIGH SCHOOL RECEIVES SECOND NATIONAL ACCOLADE — 40TH BEST HIGH SCHOOL IN NATION

 

(LAFAYETTE) – Peak to Peak High School is a Newsweek Top 100 High School, ranking as the 40th best high school in the nation out of 27,000 public high schools.  Peak to Peak is the only Colorado school to rank in the top 100.  This follows Peak to Peak High School’s ranking by U.S. News & World Report as a 2008 Gold Medal School, ranked 47th in the nation, and 5280 magazine as the best high school in the seven-county Denver metro area.

            “Before Peak to Peak even opened, the goal of making Newsweek’s Top 100 High School list was set.  That the goal has been reached after only three graduating classes is so exciting.  Our mission is to prepare kids for college, and this is a tribute to the years of hard work by the Peak to Peak community,” said founding Peak to Peak Board President Ronda Kelley. 

According to the Newsweek website, public schools are ranked according to a ratio whereby the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2007 is divided by the number of graduating seniors.  All of the schools on the list are in the top 5 percent of public schools nationwide measured by this metric and have an index of at least 1.000.

The highly accredited college-prep K-12 charter school opened as an elementary school in 2000, and has grown to over 1300 students in grades K-12 in 2007.  Peak to Peak High School offers a rigorous liberal arts curriculum including AP classes, highly acclaimed fine arts and state championship athletics.  The three graduating classes to date average a 99 percent graduation rate, and 100 percent of the 93 graduating seniors in the class of 2008 have been accepted to a college of their choice.  The 81 2007 graduates were offered over $4 million in scholarship money.  Ten 2008 seniors qualified as National Merit Finalists, over 10% of the senior class, and eight additional students received Commended recognition.  Sixty-two students qualified for Advanced Placement Scholar distinctions based on the 2007 AP exams taken last spring.