Northeast Magnet makes magazine’s list of top public schools in Kansas

Northeast Magnet High School in Wichita once again made the list of top 10 public high schools in Kansas, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The magnet high school in Bel Aire ranked seventh in the state and was designated a silver-medal school in a list dominated by Kansas City-area high schools.

Andover’s two high schools placed in the top 20 in Kansas – Andover Central at 11th and Andover High at 12th. Wichita’s Northwest High School ranked 15th.

U.S. News and World Report and RTI International, a nonprofit social science research firm, evaluated schools based on their students’ performance on state assessments; how effectively the schools educated black, Hispanic and low-income students; graduation rates; and a “college readiness index,” which was based on the school’s Advance Placement participation rate and how well students did on those tests.

“This just reaffirms for us what we know – that this is a special place,” said Matt Creasman, principal at Northeast Magnet.

“Northeast Magnet has an outstanding staff, and they are dedicated. They put in hours that go beyond the contract. … We have a lot of different resources in place to help kids get help when they need it.”

Last fall more than 100 Northeast Magnet students participated in a free ACT test-preparation program on Saturdays, Creasman said. The school also offers Saturday tutoring sessions that normally draw 70 to 80 students.

Northeast Magnet’s consistent ranking among the top schools in the state – it was No. 7 last year as well – means its popularity likely will continue. The school has a waiting list of about 200 students, Creasman said.

“It’s a privilege to come to work here every day,” he said. “We have outstanding kids and we have very supportive families, and that’s also a big deciding factor in what makes us great.”

Blue Valley North High in Overland Park ranked No. 1 in the state on the magazine.

The other schools in the state’s top 10 were Blue Valley High in Stilwell, Blue Valley Southwest, Blue Valley West, Shawnee Mission East, Blue Valley Northwest, Lawrence Free State, Olathe Northwest and Shawnee Mission South.

Northeast Magnet opened in 1990 with 395 students. The school offered specialized programs in science and visual arts with a humanities program. It merged with the Downtown Law Magnet, once housed at Wichita’s City Hall, in 1996. In 2012, the school moved to its new building at 53rd Street North and Rock Road.

About 700 students attend Northeast Magnet this year.

Thirteen Kansas high school were awarded silver medals in the 2017 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, and 93 received bronze medals.

In the national rankings, five of the top 10 high schools are in Arizona, and they’re all branches of the BASIS charter school network. BASIS Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Ariz., claimed the title of No. 1 high school in the country.

In the magazine’s state-by-state rankings, Kansas ranked No. 45th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among the 313 Kansas high schools eligible for the rankings, based on the magazine’s criteria, none received a gold-medal ranking and only 13 – 4.2 percent – received a silver medal.

Maryland was the leading performer for the third year in a row. Florida came in second and California was third.

This story was originally published April 27, 2017 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Northeast Magnet makes magazine’s list of top public schools in Kansas."