For the second year in a row, Lindbergh High School has made the list of top-performing high schools in the country.

Lindbergh was named to the list of “Best High Schools in the Country” compiled by Newsweek Magazine, according to a district news release.

The list recognizes high schools that are judged on a Challenge Index, comparing the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams with senior enrollment. Newsweek uses this standard because it is a good measure of a high school’s success at challenging all students to perform at a high level.

The new wrinkle this year is the ranking of Lindbergh High School, the release stated. Lindbergh’s ranking last year was 925. Lindbergh’s placement is 679 this year.

“This represents a terrific improvement,” Lindbergh Superintendent Jim Sandfort stated. “More students are taking more challenging course work and that is a very good thing. In a day where there is so much attention paid to academic mediocrity, it is encouraging to know the students at Lindbergh High School have chosen the academic challenge.”

At Lindbergh High, being listed as one of the best high schools in America is “a real tribute,” according to Irv Mueller, honors coordinator.

“It’s really about challenging yourself to succeed at the next level. That’s what our students are doing. It sometimes means that their grades may be slightly lower on their report cards, because they are stretching farther to challenge themselves. How-ever, they are better prepared to succeed in college,” Mueller stated.

At a time when students across the country sometimes are criticized for taking easy courses during their four years of high school, Lindbergh students continue to challenge themselves by taking advanced classes. Last year, a large number of students took IB and AP tests. Twelve Lindbergh High School students received IB diplomas and 43 received AP Scholar Awards.

“Congratulations for being named one of the best high schools in America goes not only to our students, but to their teachers, who encourage to students to take up the challenge,” Mueller stated.

“Now that we’ve been involved with these programs for several years we’re getting positive feedback from our graduates,” he added. “Because they are challenging themselves, they have been very successful in their college experience.”

Mueller has received numerous e-mails from graduates like Lauren Cooper, a 2005 Lindbergh High graduate, who stated, “I wanted to tell you I couldn’t have been more academically prepared for college. The AP/IB classes at Lindbergh were phenomenal, something I couldn’t have realized until I came to college. A lot of kids at my college (George Washington Univer-sity) went to private school or even boarding school, and I more than hold my own with all of them.”