Performance
In its September, 2009 issue, Boston magazine named Commonwealth as the best private high school in eastern Massachusetts.
Academically, the school is one of the nation's elite. In 2012, three seniors were named Presidential Scholar semifinalists. Only 16 schools nationwide had this number or more so honored; because of its small enrollment Commonwealth had the highest percentage of seniors honored in the U.S. Historically, two-thirds of the senior class is recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program. From 2006 to 2012, 36 students were named National Merit Finalists. In that same period 15 students were named as AP National Scholars by the College Board. Median SAT scores for the class of 2012 were 745 in critical reading, 721 in writing, and 727 in math.
Commonwealth is the only Massachusetts school to receive a grant from the Malone Scholars program of the Malone Family Foundation, which independently identifies top-level schools to receive an endowment. "Once endowed, the schools are empowered to perpetually fund scholarships to motivated top students based on merit and financial need."
In 2004, the school was recognized by the College Board as having the best physics curriculum in schools of its size range (less than 500 students) in the country, based on the performance of students on the AP Physics C exam. Most junior year classes prepare students to take a corresponding AP test, though the curriculum is not generally focused on the test itself.
From 2001 to 2012, the most popular college choices were the University of Chicago (17 graduates), Brown (17), New York University (13), Tufts (13), Bryn Mawr (12), Harvard (12), Haverford (12), Wesleyan (12), Carleton (11), Columbia (11), Smith (11), Barnard (10), McGill (10), the University of Pennsylvania (10), and Yale (10).
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Famous quotes containing the word performance:
“They say all lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The way to go to the circus, however, is with someone who has seen perhaps one theatrical performance before in his life and that in the High School hall.... The scales of sophistication are struck from your eyes and you see in the circus a gathering of men and women who are able to do things as a matter of course which you couldn’t do if your life depended on it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Tennis is more than just a sport. It’s an art, like the ballet. Or like a performance in the theater. When I step on the court I feel like Anna Pavlova. Or like Adelina Patti. Or even like Sarah Bernhardt. I see the footlights in front of me. I hear the whisperings of the audience. I feel an icy shudder. Win or die! Now or never! It’s the crisis of my life.”
—Bill Tilden (1893–1953)