Newsweek finds HBHS notable

For the third consecutive year, Hollis/Brookline High School has been recognized by Newsweek magazine as one of the top performing high schools in the country.

The high school, ranked at 1,228, was one of two schools in New Hampshire that were singled out. The other is Souhegan High School in Amherst, which placed 1,467 on the list.

For Tim Kelley, principal of Hollis/Brookline, the news conjured deja vu.

Last year, as Kelley was returning from a biology class trip to the White Mountains, he received a cell phone call informing him that for the second year in a row the high school had made Newsweek’s annual list of top schools.

This year, the Hollis Brookline High School principal was finishing up in the office before heading out to a girls’ lacrosse game. As it turned out, the girls’ team won the state championship.

The timing couldn’t have been better: Thursday was Class Day at the high school. It was also the day of junior awards and a jazz band performance.

The ranking is based on a single metric: the number of students in a school who take the Advanced Placement, Cambridge or International Baccalaureate, divided by the number of graduating seniors.

That means the more students who take tests in the advanced courses, the higher a school’s score.

But Kelley said what the test results don’t reveal is how well Hollis/Brookline students do on the tests.

“It reflects on the quality of the teaching staff,” he added.

The newspaper was unable to reach anyone at Souhegan High School on Friday.