Hopkins, Robbinsdale Cooper Named Two of the Most Challenging Schools in MN

Hopkins High School and Robbinsdale Cooper both climbed in the Washington Post’s list of the most-challenging high schools, according to rankings released last week.

The Washington Post’s High School Challenge ranked Hopkins 22nd in the state for how it prepares students for college. Nationally, the school was ranked 1,587th out of 1,900 schools that made the list. Robbinsdale Cooper was ranked 27th in the state and 1,945th nationally.

Last year, Hopkins was 25th in the state while Robbinsdale Cooper was 29th.

Only 9 percent of the country’s approximately 22,000 schools made the list, including 27 in Minnesota.

To grade the schools, the Washington Post divided the number of college preparation tests that students took by the number of graduating seniors. Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests were all tallied. Schools with a score above 1.0 made the list.

Hopkins scored 1.375, while Robbinsdale Cooper scored 1.013.

Schools in nearby districts that made the list were:

• St. Louis Park, second in the state with a score of 4.355
• Edina, third with a score of 3.764
• Eden Prairie, ninth with a score of 2.569
• Robbinsdale Armstrong, 10th with a score of 2.556
• Wayzata, 16th with a score of 1.905

The list excludes magnets and charter schools that have average SAT or ACT scores greater than the highest average for normal enrollment schools—which translates to 2000 for the SAT or 29.3 for the ACT.

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