America's Best High Schools: Gold Medal List
We looked at more than 21,000 public high schools in 48 states and the District of Columbia. The following are the 100 schools that performed the best in our three-step America’s Best High Schools ranking analysis.
- yellow
- Based on Advanced Placement (AP) tests
- blue
- Based on International Baccalaureate (IB) tests
| Rank | School Name and Location | Quality-adjusted Exams per Test Taker |
College Readiness |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and TechnologyAlexandria, VA | 6.9 | 100.0 |
| 2 | International AcademyBloomfield Hills, MI | 5.7 | 100.0 |
| 3 | Whitney High SchoolCerritos, CA | 4.1 | 100.0 |
| 4 | Oxford AcademyCypress, CA | 5.0 | 100.0 |
| 5 | School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview CenterDallas, TX | 8.0 | 100.0 |
| 6 | Newcomers High SchoolLong Island City, NY | 1.6 | 100.0 |
| 7 | Pacific Collegiate SchoolSanta Cruz, CA | 4.5 | 100.0 |
| 8 | School of Science and Engineering MagnetDallas, TX | 5.1 | 100.0 |
| 9 | BASIS TucsonTucson, AZ | 4.7 | 100.0 |
| 10 | International SchoolBellevue, WA | 3.8 | 100.0 |
| 11 | High Technology High SchoolLincroft, NJ | 3.6 | 98.9 |
| 12 | Academic Magnet High SchoolNo. Charleston, SC | 4.7 | 98.2 |
| 13 | IDEA Academy and College PrepatoryDonna, TX | 1.1 | 97.7 |
| 14 | Pine View SchoolOsprey, FL | 4.3 | 96.8 |
| 15 | Design and Architecture Senior High SchoolMiami, FL | 2.7 | 96.7 |
| 16 | KIPP Houston High SchoolHouston, TX | 1.1 | 95.7 |
| 17 | Stanton College Preparatory SchoolJacksonville, FL | 4.6 | 95.6 |
| 18 | The Early College at GuilfordGreensboro, NC | 4.0 | 95.4 |
| 19 | The High School of American Studies at Lehman CollegeBronx, NY | 2.9 | 94.8 |
| 20 | Loveless Academic Magnet Program High SchoolMontgomery, AL | 3.5 | 94.2 |
| 21 | University High SchoolTucson, AZ | 5.1 | 92.9 |
| 22 | California Academy of Math and ScienceCarson, CA | 2.1 | 92.1 |
| 23 | Animo Leadership Charter High SchoolInglewood, CA | 0.9 | 91.6 |
| 24 | Raleigh Charter High SchoolRaleigh, NC | 4.9 | 91.2 |
| 25 | Lennox Mathematics, Science and Technology AcademyLennox, CA | 1.5 | 90.5 |
| See schools 26 - 50 » | |||
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Reader Comments
Sry
Okay, let's be clear. First, your school is not not on the list because it is not the best. Why people on here think facing disadvantages makes them more qualified to be "the best school" makes no sense to me. Also, you clearly have no knowledge of TJ. No students get exclusively Bs and Cs, because they would be kicked out as a result of TJs 3.0 GPA policy. Also in a more general case, your school system (UC) is failing because it has no money. They can use all the out of state tuition they can get, ergo in staters such as yourself get screwed. Also don't you think admittting you have subpar teachers and more importantly, bad test scores, is grounds for saying you are not the best school in the country?
Unfair
These type of reports make it impossible for students like me to get a fair shot for college acceptance. From my experience and from what I have seen, southwestern, especially Californian schools, are terrible compared to east coast schools. We have little to no lab supplies or any supplies period, terrible teachers who don't even have a degree in what they're teaching (we have a music teacher teaching English), the school is overcrowded with almost 4000 kids and counting, and the administration is poorly organized, poorly run, and indifferent about the students. We're stuck in a constant loop of underfunding. We get little funding because out test scores are terrible, and then the test scores become worse due to sub-par supplies and teachers and overcrowding. How can anybody expect the poor or even lower middle class to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" when we are completely disadvantaged the second we enroll in high school? What college would accept someone from Rancho Buena Vista High School with straight A's when there is someone in Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology who has B's and C's? It's no contest that they'll pick the lower quality student based on where they went to school.
What about the teaching methods?
Part of what is missing from the previous responses from readers is that many teaching methods were not designed for Advanced Placement tests or International Baccalaureate exams. Teachers need a different kind of instruction approach when teaching AP or IB classes. Having students focus on academic reading and vocabulary skills may work for NCLB requirements, but it will not bring success on an AP or IB heavy curriculum. Many traditional pedagogical practices focus on ensuring that students can read and write. Understandably, literacy is a necessary for success in the 21st century. However, teaching methods that focus on general academic skills do not always translate into the learning of academic content. In other words, kids can read terms like “supply-side economics” or “Emancipation Proclamation”; but not have a clue as to what these terms mean (or even remember them). For more on this problem investigate the following book on Amazon: “Teaching for Recall: New Strategies for Improving Student Achievement in Social Studies”
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