Saddleback Unified School District Ranked Among Top 100 Districts In The State

MISSION VIEJO, CA — As the 2017-18 school year kicks off, parents and students heading to their first day of school can see how our local school districts stack up against others in the county and state as Niche.com has released its annual rankings of best schools and school districts in the country.

The 2018 rankings released this month rank elementary, middle and high schools as well as school districts. According to Niche, the best school district in the state is the Palo Alto Unified School District. With an overall Niche grade of A, the district received a grade of A+ in academics, teachers, clubs and activities, college prep and a C + in health and safety. In the category of diversity, Niche awarded the school district an A+.

The Saddleback Unified School District ranked #55 in California and #10 in Orange County. The Saddleback District earned an overall grade of A- from Niche, earning an B+ in academics, an A in diversity, and an A- in teachers, an A+ in college prep and C+ in clubs and activities; and A in health and safety.

To arrive at these rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data and ratings collected from Niche users. The methodology for each category of ranking varied. (Click here for more information on how Niche calculates its rankings.)

Niche assigns a standardized score for each factor, which is then weighted before an overall score is calculated for each school district. The overall scores are again standardized and some districts are disqualified from receiving a final letter grade if there isn’t enough data. School districts are then ranked numerically and assigned grades.

According to Niche, these are the ten best school districts in Orange County:

1. Irvine Unified School District
2. Los Alamitos Unified School District
3. Laguna Beach Unified School District
4. Fullerton Joint Union High School District
5. Huntington Beach Union High School District
6. Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
7. Capistrano Unified School District
8. Tustin Unified School District
9. Newport-Mesa Unified School District
10. Saddleback Valley Unified School District
11. Brea-Olinda Unified School District
12. Orange Unified School District

Fountain Valley Elementary School District finished at 17 out of the 28 districts reviewed by Niche.

Niche’s data for its K-12 school district rankings comes from various sources including the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Civil Rights Data Collection. The rankings also rely on data that is self-reported by Niche users and schools. Click here to learn more about where Niche’s data comes from.)

Also See:

Saddleback School Calendar 2017-18: First Day Of School, Vacations, Conferences

What do you think of the rankings? Let us know in the comments below.

Image via Shutterstock