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For another year, experts at RTI International collaborated with U.S. News & World Report to collect and analyze data used to generate the rankings
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — U.S. News & World Report today unveiled its 2023-2024 Best High Schools rankings, highlighting the top-performing public schools in each state and nationally. RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, supported the collection and analysis of the data used to generate the rankings.
Early College at Guilford in North Carolina, Signature School in Indiana, and School for Advanced Studies – South in Florida claimed the top three spots in the 2023-2024 rankings, which included more than 17,000 high schools.
With 11% of its high schools ranking in the top 5% of all schools, the District of Columbia had the largest percentage of top ranked schools. Other states with a high percentage of its schools in the top 5% included Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
“The Best High Schools rankings provide a helpful starting point for parents and students trying to make decisions about the best educational path forward,” said Liana Loewus, managing editor of Education at U.S. News. “By looking across the landscape, families can get a sense of what different schools and systems have to offer."
Experts at RTI collaborated with U.S. News to implement a methodology with six factors: (1) college readiness, (2) reading, math and science proficiency, (3) reading, math and science performance, (4) underserved student performance, (5) college curriculum breadth and (6) graduation rates. Specifically, college readiness measures participation and performance on Advanced Placement® (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) tests. The methodology was updated for 2023-2024 to account for lower levels of participation in state assessments due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to the national list, U.S. News released rankings for high schools in each state, including charter and magnet schools, which are available separately in the Best Charter Schools and Best Magnet Schools rankings.
Learn more about RTI’s data collection services and capabilities
Learn more about RTI’s K-12 education work
Media Contact for U.S. News & World Report: Jeanette Perez Colby (jcolby@usnews.com)
