Newsweek’s release of its annual school rankings earlier this week ranked GateWay Early College High School (GWECHS) 6th as America’s Top High Schools for Low-Income Students. GWECHS was the only school in Arizona to rank in the top 10, with a college readiness score of 99.59 out of 100 points.
“We are extremely excited about this achievement,” said Lisa Smith, principal for GateWay Early College High School. “Our students, teachers and staff have worked really hard to ensure the kids have real choices for their futures.”
For the first time Newsweek decided to take poverty into account dividing its main top high school list into two: “America’s Top High Schools 2014” which is ranked solely on performance and “Beating the Odds: America’s Top High Schools for Low-Income Students,” which takes into consideration poverty levels.
GateWay Early College High School, which had a 91.5 poverty rate at the time of the study (it is now at 97) has also been recently awarded an “A” grade by the Arizona Department of Education.
Also, the school’s dropout rate is impressive, when compared to the state and national averages - it is currently zero percent.
“Our faculty has been working diligently with the students and responding directly to their strengths and weaknesses,” said Smith. “The bottom line is the GateWay faculty and staff take the time to know their students and we are able to do whatever it takes to prepare them for college.”
The students are so well prepared for post-secondary education that all of the student in the last graduating class have been accepted in college and/or university-level courses. Ten percent of students graduate with an associate degree before they graduate high school and on average, students have 40 college credits when they graduate high school. The school has also been ranked as a Bronze School by US News.
The school, established at GateWay Community College in 1995 as an alternative high school, has 14 faculty and seven staff, serving approximately 260 students for the 2014-2015 academic year. In 2004, it changed to an Early College High School. On Nov. 21, it’s celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary and all of its achievements at a Fall Festival in GateWay’s Amphitheater.
For information about GateWay Early College High School, visit http://www.gatewaycc.edu/gwechs or call (602) 286-8759.