Washingtonian labels Blair

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from the Washingtonian article "Top High Schools" by Drew Lindsay.

The Washingtonian listed Blair as the biggest and most diverse school in their report card of 101 public and 21 private high schools in the Washington area in their October 2004 edition. Blair also ranked highest in performance on the Advanced Placement (AP) tests.

Diversity and class size are factors in performance on test scores, noted the Washingtonian. Blair's population of 3,298 makes it the largest school in the Washington area. Blair also claims the highest diversity ranking. Its students are divided almost evenly among racial and ethnic groups, though reading and math levels of proficiency are not nearly so equal.

According to the Washingtonian, approximately 93 percent of white students and 81 percent of Asian students at Blair read at or above proficiency level, while under half of black and Hispanic students do. Similarly, 63 percent of white students and 50 percent of Asian students score at or above proficiency level on math State Achievement Tests, while only 20 percent of blacks and 18 percent of Hispanics do.

Although Blair's passing rate for the Algebra 1 HSA was only 12 percent last year, students performed significantly better on the SAT. Blair's average of combined SAT scores (verbal and math) was 1148, and it ranked 11th among the top 20 schools in the area for high SAT scores.

Blair also topped every other school in the area in AP test performance. Ninety-one percent of student who took an AP test scored at least a three, according to the Washingtonian. Sixteen percent of Blair students took AP tests last year.

Montgomery County schools were top performers in Maryland as well. On State Achievement Tests, the top nine schools for performance were in Montgomery County. This year, Montgomery County also raised its average SAT score to a new high of 1102.