It came as a pleasant surprise a few weeks ago when we found Roslyn High School listed once again as one of the nation's top high schools in a feature article in Newsweek.

The magazine focused on a single index of student performance: how many students take Advanced Placement exams. Roslyn ranked in the top 100 high schools in the number of seniors taking AP tests, placing it in the top half of 1 percent of the 14,000 American high schools where students sat for AP exams. (There are many thousands of additional high schools that have no AP program at all.)

We were surprised by the article because the magazine provided no advance notice to schools that they would be included on the list. It is especially gratifying to be acknowledged, for the second time, in an anonymous, impartial and unbiased way. In Newsweek's last such list published in 2000, Roslyn also placed among the nation's 100 best high schools.

While we acknowledge the importance of an Advanced Placement program as a measure of a school district's academic status and the vitality of its instructional programs, we must remember that it is only one measure among many.

Furthermore, the AP index is limited even on its own terms. It does not measure how well students performed on these tests, only how many tests were physically taken. In Roslyn, students achieved a score high enough to earn college credit on 90 percent of the tests taken, which is a very high percentage. Nor does the index measure how many students enroll and complete AP courses, only how many take the test.

Roslyn High School, for one, has a policy of not requiring every student in an AP course to take the exam. I believe this an educationally sound approach: we certainly encourage students to challenge themselves by taking the exam that is given at the end of a course, and the vast majority of them do. However, it is most important that they have the opportunity to learn the college-level AP curriculum that is taught in each course.

We can take justifiable pride in this unsolicited recognition, but we are equally proud of many other factors that make Roslyn High School unique and special. All one had to do was attend the Academic and Community Awards and Athletic Awards programs in recent days to realize how many of our students reach very high levels of achievement in so many areas.

Our high rate of students' acceptances into the nation's best colleges and universities, strong results on a variety of standardized assessments, a comprehensive research program, dozens of interscholastic athletic teams, a required community service program, outstanding musical performance ensembles and numerous extracurricular clubs and activities are among the factors that make Roslyn so attractive to the many families who move to our area each year.

There were quite a few other Long Island public high schools on Newsweek's list, a reminder that New York's public suburban schools remain the nation's best. The high rate of passage of school budgets last week, despite these challenging economic times, is a testament to our recognition of the excellence in our schools.

Roslyn should take pride in being among the leaders in scholastic success not only locally, but nationally. It is only through the community's strong support over many years that such remarkable student success is possible.