Early in May, Newsweek released the list of the top 2,000 schools in the nation. Out of 5,000 schools that were invited to submit their information approximately 2,500 of these schools did. Out of the schools that did submit their information Woodland was ranked 1,429th.

Aside from the national ranking of 1,429th, Woodland was also ranked as the 28th high school in Connecticut. The top high school in Connecticut was Darien High School, which was ranked national number 217. A list of the top high schools in Connecticut can be found at usnews.com.

There were five factors that contributed to the ranking of the high schools.Four year on-time graduation, percent of 2011 graduates who were accepted in college, and AP/IB/AICE tests per student each made up 25% of the weighting. The average SAT and/or ACT score and Average AP/IB/AICE exams score each made up 10% of the weighting while the percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course made up 5%.

According to thedailybeast.com Woodland’s 2011 graduation rate was 94%, and the percentage of the students attending college was 82%. The average SAT score at Woodland was a 1474 and average AP test score was a 3.3. The overall score Newsweek gave to Woodland was a 2.81, along with 17 other high schools who received the same score.

“I think one of the things that makes this a special place is that we were able to hire teachers to help build all of our programs, because of that we have teachers who feel ownership in their programs and the school,” said Woodland Principal, Dr. Arnold Frank

Previously the website had ranked schools based on the number of courses offered, which according to the website, “is limited even for the most ambitious high school curricula.” The website also mentioned that all of the data analyzed was self-reported between the 2011-2012 school year.

At Woodland 13 AP classes are offered to students. These courses include AP U.S. History, AP World History, AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science and a number of other rigorous courses, which helped increase Woodland’s rank.

All of the teachers and students who attend Woodland were proud of the accomplishment.

“I am thrilled and proud of this accomplishment”, said Frank. ” So many people have worked hard for the past 12 years to make this happen.”

While he is extremely proud of what Woodland has accomplished in the future, Frank hopes to see Woodland continue to improve.

“I think we can still improve our graduation rate, hoping the alternative school will help in that area.  I also would like to see our SAT scores improve,” said Frank. ” But, I do put test scores in perspective and realize that they are not the most important thing.  I continue to strive to encourage every student to be connected to some aspect of Woodland.”