U.S. News & World Report released an article entitled "America's Best High Schools" in their December 3, 2007 edition.  Using a formula that measures the growth in performance of students, the magazine was looking for the high schools that made the greatest academic gains with ALL their students, screening the entire nation.

The authors then took the top 100 schools nationally and designated them as "gold". The next tier of schools, of which there were 405, were designated "silver". The third level of award, designated "bronze", was received by 1,086 schools. These levels of performance were based on researching over 18,000 schools in 40 states. The other 10 states did not have enough data to make a determination of performance.

This was the first attempt to look at academic performance, and not use the information for any other reason, other to see which schools were the best performers.  In Ohio, 68 schools received awards, and Liberty-Benton High School was a bronze award recipient.

This recognition was not sought by us, but was simply the result of some hard work by our students and their teachers, who believe that Liberty-Benton is a school where learning is very important. I was not even aware we had been designated as one of America's "Best High Schools" until I had received a congratulatory note with a link to the U.S. News & World Report on-line edition.

It is gratifying to see how a group with no "agenda", other than to seek out the best schools, was able to showcase Liberty-Benton.  This type of news reinforces the fact that Liberty-Benton is a school, "Where Eagles Learn to Soar".

We need to remember that education is a long term commitment, and that the high school's success is dependent upon the middle school's high performance, and that the middle school's success is dependent upon the elementary school's performance. Most of all, none of this can happen unless there is commitment of the students and their families.

If you get a chance, congratulate Mrs. Frankart, her students, and the staff for this well deserved recognition.

(click on the image to view Liberty-Benton High School's report on the U.S. News and World Reports Web site.)