For the second year in a row, Lapeer East High School has earned two national rankings for excellence.

In Newsweek’s 2013 America’s Best High Schools ranking, based on schools that best prepare students for college, East is ranked in the top 10 percent.  The ranking is based on factors proven to gauge college readiness: graduation rates, participation in college-level classes via Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, and acceptance into a two or four-year college program.

Lapeer East was also ranked 29th out of 826 Michigan High Schools and among the top eight percent of high schools nationwide in the Washington Post High School Challenge Ranking. The ranking is based on the number of AP, IB and Advanced International Certificate of Education Tests given at a school each year and divided by the number of seniors graduating. This Challenge Index is designed to identify those schools that have done the best job of encouraging students to take college-level courses and tests.

“Our staff at East deserves kudos for their efforts, encouragement, and instruction to our AP Students,” East Principal Scott Roper said. “All of our AP Students who have taken the challenge and made the commitment to include increased rigor in their high school schedule also deserve recognition.”

East Assistant Principal Dr. Mike Hobolth also is due a tremendous amount of credit, Roper said, for the school’s successful AP program. Hobolth is responsible for facilitating and hosting a top-notch AP Summer Institute for teachers across Michigan in Lapeer every year.

Both LCS high schools, East and West, have seen a marked increase in the number of AP exams undertaken by students – an increase of 45 percent in just the last year.

“As a district, we want to embrace the challenge of rigor,” said LCS Superintendent Matt Wandrie. “We are proud of the great strides that have been made, and we are preparing students to go even farther.”