Best High Schools: Gold Medal List

By U.S. News Staff

December 4, 2008 RSS Feed Print

We looked at more than 21,000 public high schools in 48 states. The following are the 100 schools that performed the best in our three-step America’s Best High Schools analysis.

yellow: Based on Advanced Placement (AP) tests
blue: Based on International Baccalaureate (IB) tests
green: Based on both Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests

Rank	School Name and Location	Quality-adjusted Exams per Test Taker	College Readiness
1	Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Alexandria, VA	6.8	100.0
2	Oxford Academy Cypress, CA	4.4	99.5
3	Pacific Collegiate Charter Santa Cruz, CA	4.1	98.8
4	High Technology High School Lincroft, NJ	3.1	98.4
5	Design and Architectural Senior High Miami, FL	2.7	97.8
6	International Academy Bloomfield Hills, MI	5.9	97.8
7	International Baccalaureate School at BHS Bartow, FL	5.3	97.5
8	Preuss School UCSD La Jolla, CA	1.9	97.1
9	Academic Magnet High School No. Charleston, SC	4.0	95.5
10	Gretchen Whitney High Cerritos, CA	4.1	94.4
11	Pine View School Osprey, FL	4.1	94.4
12	Maine School of Science & Math Limestone, ME	2.8	94.4
13	Basis Tucson Tucson, AZ	3.2	93.8
14	International School Bellevue, WA	2.6	91.8
15	Ridgeview Classical Charter Schools Fort Collins, CO	2.9	91.3
16	Benjamin Franklin Senior High School New Orleans, LA	3.3	90.7
17	Early College at Guilford Greensboro, NC	3.4	90.0
18	School of Science & Engineering Dallas, TX	5.6	88.9
19	Idea College Preparatory Donna, TX	1.0	88.9
20	Raleigh Charter High Raleigh, NC	4.8	88.9
21	Lennox Mathematics, Science, and Technology Academy Lennox, CA	1.5	88.6
22	University High School Tucson, AZ	4.7	87.7
23	Stuyvesant High School New York, NY	3.6	87.6
24	International Community School Kirkland, WA	3.6	87.5
25	Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School Montgomery, AL	2.4	86.8
See schools 26 - 50 »
yellow Based on Advanced Placement (AP) tests blue Based on International Baccalaureate (IB) tests green Based on both Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests

Tags:: high school,; rankings

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hmm I'm pretty sure that The Vanguard School is #1 in CO.

Nicole of CO 8:58PM December 09, 2009

Just because your school didn't make the list, it does not mean that the survey was "bought out," excluded your school, or was somehow biased. It may have been, I don't know. Build yourself a bridge, and get over it!! It's really just another survey.
When you say "Oh, TJ, it's sucking up all the smart kids from the base high schools." Well, Fairfax County and the other counties that feed into TJ also have top-rated schools and a generally excellent public school system.
However, It all comes down to what you are willing to do as a student to help yourself succeed. No top-notch school is worth it if you are not focused. You'd be better off learning as many things as you can at a normal high school. I'm a product of public school systems, and through my hard work, I made it into TJ and do relatively well. I absolutely love it. To "lieutenantcaveman of XX," please get your facts straight before you judge. At TJ, the curriculum is meant to challenge you more. We have those classes like philosophy and history too, and chances are you could've learned more here. By the way, we also have Russian, and those who kids took advanced science courses took it because they were INTERESTED in it, not because they were required to. Also, way to ignorantly stereotype us all into "well paid nerds." These are people you're talking about. Yes, real people with individual personalities. And we are nerds, if by nerd you mean highly motivated people who wish to succeed in whatever they pursue, which includes sports and other extracurriculars. Didn't we all learn how to R-E-S-P-E-C-T in like, kindergarten?
Some of these comments are just HILARIOUS, esp. the "greetings from poland" one. hahahhahaa

boomshakalaka of VA 8:51PM December 09, 2009

These are NOT the best hs in America. They are good schools who serve a very specialized population. The best schools are ones that take freshmen scoring 50% on the state tests and have them score 90+ as seniors. In these schools the freshmen are already scoring 90+!

jim of FL 8:00AM December 09, 2009

Best High Schools: Gold Medal List

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