By Joshua Huff, sports editor
TRUSSVILLE — The US News & World Report released its annual ranking of the best high schools in the nation on Tuesday and though just one school in the state cracked the nation’s top 100, multiple programs within The Tribune coverage area made the list of the top 50 schools in the state.
The US News & World Report reviewed more than 24,000 U.S. public high schools and 359 schools from Alabama made the rankings.
“The highest-ranked U.S. public schools in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 Best High Schools rankings are those whose attendees demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math and reading state assessments, passed a diverse array of college-level exams and graduated in high proportions,” US News wrote.
U.S. News ranked approximately 17,790 public high schools out of more than 24,000 reviewed. This includes public high schools that had a 12th grade enrollment of 15 or greater, or otherwise had sufficient enrollment in other high school grades during the 2017-2018 school year to be analyzed.
The rankings were determined by weighing college readiness (30%), math and reading proficiency (20%), math and reading performance (20%), underserved student performance (10%), college curriculum breadth (10%) and graduation rate (10%).
Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School in Montgomery was the only school in Alabama to make the list of top 50 best schools in the country — The magnet school sits at No. 23 in the nation. New Century Tech Demo High School, Mountain Brook High School, Homewood High School and Booker T. Washington Magnet High School in Montgomery rounded out the top 5 in Alabama — None of those schools were named in the list of top 150 best high schools in the country.
Locally, only Hewitt-Trussville High School and Leeds High Schools were ranked within the top 50 in the state.
Hewitt-Trussville was ranked as the No. 17 best school in Alabama and sits at No. 1,601 in the national rankings.
Ranking Factors
How Hewitt-Trussville High School performed nationally and statewide out of 17,792 nationally ranked schools and 359 schools ranked in Alabama.
RANKING FACTORS |
NATIONAL |
STATE |
---|---|---|
College Readiness Index Rank
|
#2,220 |
#13 |
College Curriculum Breadth Index Rank
|
#1,098 |
#6 |
Math and Reading Proficiency Rank
|
#570 (tie) |
#12 |
Math and Reading Performance Rank
|
#8,000 (tie) |
#162 |
Graduation Rate Rank
|
N/A |
N/A |
Leeds High School sits at No. 49 in the state and at No. 4,210 in the country.
Ranking Factors
How Leeds High School performed nationally and statewide out of 17,792 nationally ranked schools and 359 schools ranked in Alabama.
RANKING FACTORS |
NATIONAL |
STATE |
---|---|---|
College Readiness Index Rank
|
#4,689 (tie) |
#39 |
College Curriculum Breadth Index Rank
|
#5,553 |
#85 |
Math and Reading Proficiency Rank
|
#4,241 (tie) |
#86 |
Math and Reading Performance Rank
|
#7,259 (tie) |
#147 |
Graduation Rate Rank
|
N/A |
N/A |