R-5 schools earn prestigious honor from magazine

Nevada, Mo. -- Nevada High School has once again been recognized for excellence, and this time it's by a national independent news organization, U.S. News and World Report. Nevada was one of only 29 high schools in Missouri to be recognized for excellence by the magazine.

R5 Superintendent Craig Noah gave the students and the faculty all the credit for the award.

"We have such a talented and hard working group of students and staff," Noah said. "It is an honor and a privilege to work with such talented individuals. Our students have an incredible work ethic and they have strong desire to achieve at their maximum potential. Our staff is an extremely dedicated group of individuals that are always willing to do whatever it takes to help our students succeed."

Noah also gave credit to the community at large for their support and assistance.

"We are so fortunate to live and work in a community that truly values a quality educational system," Noah said. "Our parents and community are great supporters and we want them to know that without their assistance, this award wouldn't be possible."

The magazine used gold, silver and bronze rankings to recognize schools. Nevada earned the bronze status, two Missouri schools, Rock Bridge and Metro High, earned the silver recognition. No Missouri schools achieved the gold status.

The only other area high schools to receive the recognition were Billings, Central High in Springfield, Gainesville, Hollister, Mount Vernon, Pierce City, Skyline and Weaubleau.

Approximately 18,790 schools in 40 states were judged in several categories; The first step determined whether each school's students were performing better than statistically expected for the average student in their state, the second step determined whether the school's least-advantaged students were performing better than average for similar students in the state, and the third step measured which schools produced the best college-level achievement for the highest percentages of their students.

Some states didn't provide the data needed, or didn't provide sufficient data to analyze, and were not included in the rankings.