Independence High School was recently recognized as a Gerber Analytics' Top Academic Ohio High School for 2010. The school was identified as one of the best schools in Ohio based on the performance on the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). The analysis included 1,018 of Ohio’s public, private and charter schools.

The Ohio Graduation Test is the only test that examines Ohio’s public, private, and charter schools together. The test is comprised of five parts – Reading, Mathematics, Writing, Science and Social Studies. The data used for the report includes the results from each of the five tests and the summary report that shows which students passed all five parts with a “Proficient” rating.

To be listed as a Top Academic Ohio High School, schools must reach the 91% “Passed Five of Five” threshold. According to the Gerber Analytics document, “this threshold is extremely important because it tells readers that essentially all of the students are extremely serious about academics and that all of the kids in each and every classroom care.”

“We are very pleased with this latest recognition,” said Independence High School Principal Mr. Roger Howard. “It complements the vision we created as a district when we wrote our five year strategic plan and stated we wished to be one of the top high schools in the State of Ohio by 2013.”

This past summer, Newsweek magazine named Independence High School as one of “America’s Top Public High Schools.” The school was among 1,500 honored, out of the roughly 27,000 public high schools nationwide, for their extraordinary commitment to challenging its students to take Advanced Placement (AP) courses, sponsored by the College Board.