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Five Prince George's high schools were named to the America's Top Public High Schools list by Newsweek magazine for 2009.

The list, released Monday, named the 1,500 top schools nationwide. It included High Point High School in Beltsville, Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale, Oxon Hill High School and Bowie High School.

Schools were named to the list based on the number of Advanced Placement and other advanced tests taken by students divided by the total number of graduating seniors, called the "Challenge Index." School-by-school details were not available.

Eleanor Roosevelt ranked the highest out of county schools at 372 in the nationwide list. Oxon Hill ranked 918th, High Point ranked 961st, and Bowie ranked 1,370th. Charles Herbert Flowers ranked 1,445th.

"This is a testimony to the dedication and cooperative effort by all of the stakeholders, including faculty, staff, parents, students and our surrounding community," said Roosevelt principal Reginald McNeill in an e-mail to The Gazette."The rigorous curriculum that we offer challenges our students academically and prepares them for future educational endeavors."

Statewide, 83 public high schools were named to the list.

Jane Spence, principal of Bowie High School, said she was "elated" to see the school make the list, as they have focused increasingly on academic rigor in recent years. "We've been trying to make sure that students challenge themselves, that teachers are forcing our students to critically analyze information versus just recall information," Spence said. "And apparently those are the dividends that you're seeing manifested in our position on the list, so we're excited."

On last year's list only two high schools made the list: Eleanor Roosevelt ranked 519th, and Oxon Hill ranked 1,002nd.

E-mail Megan King at mking@gazette.net and Jordan Attebury at jattebury@gazette.net