Lexus, Honda Top Best Cars List; America's Best High School
GRIFFIN: The best of the best. "Newsweek" studying more than 1,000 top high schools to determine which ones are best at producing kids ready for college and life.</s>ROMANS: Drumroll, please. They put Dallas School of Science and Engineering at the very head of the class. Joining us now from Dallas is the school's principal, Jovan Wells. Congratulations, the best in the country. Tell us what is the secret in your sauce, because we need it all over the place.</s>JOVAN WELLS, PRINCIPAL, THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING MAGNET SCHOOL: Thank you so much. I guess the secret is a combination of several different things, but the one thing that stands out. Of course, you have to have great teachers and teachers has are willing to go above and beyond and willing to train throughout the summer and willing to stay long hours without being paid. And we have an abundance of this at the school of science and engineering, and they really make the difference. And they are there for the students.</s>GRIFFIN: Yes. You also have great kids. Tell us how you get into your school there in Dallas and how you select these kids.</s>WELLS: Well, we do select from the entire city of Dallas. The students have to meet entrance criteria, of course. We look at their ITBS scores, we look at GPA. And because we are a math and science school, we also have on-site math assessment and essay and interview to assess their interest in our school because it's a school of choice and they have to be interested to want to go through this rigorous process. And so we look at those scores and we also make sure that it's even and across the district. So we're taking, you know, students from the entire city of Dallas. So it's very representative of our district.</s>ROMANS: These are kids that have shown some success and selecting into math and science program, magnet program. Tell me about the time that they spend in the classroom, because you talked about the extra while the teachers go. This is not your typical 8:50 to 2:50 school day, is it?</s>WELLS: Not at all. Our school hours are actually 9:00 to 4:00 and they have been adjusted to 9:15 to 4:15 for the next school year. However, we started about 7:30. We have teachers arrive there and a zero period for students in tutoring and a night period that lasts until 5:00 and we have several students that participate in that, as well as after-school tutoring. It's maximizing the time on task and students are there before and after school just as if it was the entire school day. I mean, they are there working and really taking advantage of that extra time available to study and work with the teachers.</s>GRIFFIN: Jovan, so many parents are watching this and might be feeling bad, because, number one, they don't live in Dallas. Number two, their school district doesn't have this kind of magnet opportunity that you are giving them. And they are trying to figure out in their own little education plan how can I make my kid a success given the school we're at now? What would you say to those parents as the one or two things they need to be doing to get success on an individual basis?</s>WELLS: Well, as a parent, myself, you know, I look at the things that these students are doing and it's just very good foundation and always actively involved in things like chess camp or math camps or something that keeps them on their toes. So whether it's, you know, supplementing what they are being offered at the schools in their areas with programs that are available at the university level. You know, there's several programs available there. There is always something that can help students to achieve if they get that extra push. So I would just research some areas if there are local universities and what kind of programs are they offering to help assist the students what they are doing at their local high school.</s>ROMANS: What's interesting, both of you, higher expectations are something. So your school, Jovan, has higher expectations the very get go for these kids. They have a certain GPA and already shown that they have some dedication to the subject matter. But parents could do that, too. Higher expectations all up and down the expectation process for our kids. These kids, for example, their GPA, 86 seniors graduated all of them, all of them going on to college and average SAT scores 1786, and that compares to 1509 for the rest of the country. So these are great kids. Good stuff.</s>GRIFFIN: Great stuff. Jovan Wells, congratulations to you and your school and your teachers and your kids. Thanks for being with us.</s>WELLS: Thanks so much for having me.</s>ROMANS: Still ahead the constant noise, the pollution, people everywhere, stress in the city. It turns out living in a city does more than stress you out. It messes with your brain.</s>GRIFFIN: Obviously.