Best California High Schools 2017: U.S. News And World Report List

U.S. News and World Report has crunched the numbers for 2017, releasing its annual list of best high schools in the country, ranking the schools on a national and a state level.

In California, Pacific Collegiate Charter School in Santa Cruz earned the title of the best high school in the state. Overall, the school ranked as the 10th best high school in the country. Oxford Academy in Cypress ranked as the second best in the state, followed by Gretchen Whitney High School in Cerritos. Eighty-five California high schools were given gold medals by U.S. News, 416 received silver medals and 154 schools received bronze medals.

The 2017 rankings of best high schools identify the top-performing public schools at both the national and the state level and include data on more than 28,000 high schools. To be considered among the best, high schools had to pass a rigorous four-step process that sought to determine whether a school was serving all of its students and not just those who are college bound.

The first step determined whether students at a particular school were performing better than statistically expected for students in that state, factoring in percentages of economically disadvantaged students to identify schools. Schools that passed this step then moved on to step two, which assessed whether disadvantaged students performed at or better than state averages for the least-advantaged students.

For the next two steps, U.S. News looked at graduation rates and college readiness performance. To pass step three, high schools had to have a graduation rate of 75 percent or greater. For the 2017 rankings, the graduation rate reflect students who entered the ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year. Finally, U.S. News calculated a college readiness index, which was the number of 12th graders who took and passed at least one AP test, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

To be ranked numerically nationally, schools had to pass steps 1-3 and have a college readiness index of 20.91 or above.

A total of 6,041 schools were ranked, 500 schools receiving gold medals, 2,109 schools receiving silver medals and the remaining 3,432 schools received bronze medals, while also being ranked nationally. (Other schools may have received a bronze award, but were not ranked on the state level. These schools also did not list a college readiness score.)

The state rankings were based on whether a high school received a gold, silver or a bronze medal and had a CRI value of 10 or higher. Previously, only gold and silver medal winners were ranked numerically on the state level.

The top 25 high schools in California are:

1. Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz (National Rank: 10)
2. Oxford Academy, Cypress (National Rank: 12)
3. Whitney High School, Cerritos (National Rank: 14)
4. KIPP San Jose Collegiate, San Jose (National Rank: 23)
5. Preuss School UCSD, La Jolla (National Rank: 54)
6. Lowell High School, San Francisco (National Rank: 59)
7. University High School (Fresno), Fresno (National Rank: 65)
8. Hawthorne Math and Science Academy, Hawthorne (National Rank: 66)
9. University Preparatory Academy Charter, San Jose (National Rank: 72)
10. Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, Los Angeles (National Rank: 73)
11. Lennox Mathematics, Science and Technology Academy, Lennox (National Rank: 74)
12. Mission San Jose High, Fremont (National Rank: 76)
13. Oakland Charter High, Oakland (National Rank: 91)
14. Magnolia Science Academy, Reseda (National Rank: 124)
15. California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Carson (National Rank: 127)
16. Animo Leadership High, Inglewood (National Rank: 131)
17. Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego (National Rank: 134)
18. La Canada High, La Canada (National Rank: 147)
19. Henry M. Gunn High, Palo Alto (National Rank: 150)
20. Saratoga High, Saratoga (National Rank: 161)
21. Summit Preparatory Charter High, Redwood City (National Rank: 162)
22. Roseland Charter School, Moraga (National Rank: 166)
23. San Marino High, Stockton (National Rank: 168)
24. Everest Public High, Wilmington (National Rank: 170)
25. Campolindo High, Gilroy (National Rank: 176)

Click here to see the full list of California school rankings.

The top high schools in the country are:

1. BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona
2. BASIS Tucson North, Tucson, Arizona
3. BASIS Oro Valley, Oro Valley, Arizona
4. School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas, Texas
5. BASIS Peoria, Peoria, Arizona
6. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
7. Basis Chandler, Chandler, Arizona
8. Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston, Texas
9. School of Science and Engineering, Dallas, Texas
10. Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz, California

Click here to see the full list of national school rankings.

Patch Editor FEROZE DHANOA contributed to this report / Image via Shutterstock