Who's Head of the Class? CT's Top Ranked High Schools

The data has been collected and the numbers have been crunched, and the U.S. News & World Report has handed in its homework: the 2014 rankings for the top high schools across the country has just been released.

And this year, schools from the Hartford area and Fairfield County lead the way in academic excellence, fleshing out most of the spots at the top of the Connecticut's top ranked list. (see the list above)

At the head of the class this year is Academy of Aerospace and Engineering in Hartford, which U.S. News ranks as the state's best high school.

Coginchaug Regional High School was listed at an unranked position on the report's statewide list.

The full slate of the news magazine's Connecticut high school rankings can be found here.

Nation's Top School

The nation's top high school is School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas, Texas. 

Only one Connecticut school ranked in the Top 25 of this year's list — the state's top ranked school, Academy of Aerospace and Engineering, at No. 15.

Ranking Methodology

The report bases its findings on "the key principles that a great high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college bound, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators." 

Schools were then awarded gold, silver or bronze medals "based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college."

Click here to read the report's full methodology.