7 Silicon Valley High Schools in Top 100 of Latest Magazine Survey

It's a reminder of how strong our local high schools are when compared to others around the state.

Seven Silicon Valley schools are among the Top 100 Best High Schools in California for 2012 as announced today by US News and World Report magazine.

Cupertino (Monta Vista and Cupertino HS) placed two schools in the top 100. Saratoga High School, Mountain View High School, Los Gatos High School and Los Altos High School also finished in the top group.

But the clear winner was Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, listed as the best high school in California. Pacific just missed finishing in the top 10 nationally of Best High Schools, ranked number eleven.

A three-step process determines the Best High Schools. The first two steps ensured that the schools serve all of their students well, using performance on state proficiency tests as the benchmarks. For those schools that made it past the first two steps, a third step assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work.

Palo Alto (Gunn and Palo Alto) schools, and a third Cupertino School (Homestead) showed high numbers in two categories but were not placed in the top-listed schools by US News and World Report.

California Ranking School College Readiness Academic Performance 1 Pacific Collegiate/SC 100.0 935 16 Monta Vista HS/Cup 73.8 949 22 Saratoga HS 66.9 933 50 Mountain View HS 54.5 860 62 Cupertino HS/Cup 52.4 893 63 Los Altos HS 52.4 873 86 Los Gatos HS 47.8 884 - Henry Gunn HS/PA 71.2 910 - Palo Alto HS 65.0 900 - Homestead HS/Cup 50.4 866 - Prospect HS/Sar 28.8 771 - Del Mar HS/Campbl 22.2 718