Warsaw Community High was named to the Indiana Chamber's Best Buys list for excellence Wednesday.
The schools named best buys in the ninth edition of the report offer the highest levels of academic achievement for the lowest amount of tax dollars, according to the Chamber. This is the second consecutive year WCHS was named a best buy.The study, which was presented by Indiana State University, examined 350 Indiana public high schools and, for the first time, charter schools with the appropriate available data. Using ISTEP+ pass rates, ISTEP+ Pass+ rates, graduation rates, SAT participation rates and average composite scores, and Advanced Placement passing scores, the Indiana Chamber developed a total school performance index for each school.
This index, called the school's quality index, was then compared to each school's total expenditures per pupil to determine best buy schools and to each school's at-risk student/poverty rate, as measured by participation in the federal free/reduced lunch program, to determine "honor roll" schools.
For 2007, 136 public high schools were designated as a best buy for giving taxpayers the most value for their money. Two methods determined this honor. A school was named a best buy if it had a quality index above the state median and expenditures below the statewide median of $10,196 per student. The second method was by having a quality index ranking that was 20 percent higher than the school's expenditures ranking.
"The Indiana's Best Buys report is about celebrating excellence and encouraging improvement. Indiana high schools have the necessary resources to be among the best in the world. However, to be the best, everyone must work at continuously analyzing, reforming and/or maintaining quality instructional programs. Those schools on this list are doing just that, and their communities are reaping the benefits," said Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar.
All data used in the Best Buys report was collected from Indiana Department of Education databases.
