Best Florida High Schools For 2017: U.S. News & World Report (ICYMI)

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

In Florida, Pine View earned the title of the best high school in the state. Design and Architecture Senior High ranked second best in the state, followed by International Studies Charter High School. These mirrored last year's rankings.

For the 2017 rankings, Florida came in second in the nation for its high schools preparing students for college, with 24.4 percent of the state’s schools receiving silver or gold medals; U.S. News assigned schools medals for college readiness, determined by Advanced Placement participation, graduation rates and state test scores.

In Florida, 39 schools received gold medals, 137 received silver medals and 63 received bronze medals.

Best Schools In Florida And U.S.

The top high 10 schools in Florida are as follows:

1. Pine View School, Osprey (National Rank: 13)
2. Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami (National Rank: 22)
3. International Studies Charter High School, Miami (National Rank: 24)
4. International Studies Preparatory Academy, Coral Gables (National Rank: 31)
5. Westshore Junior/Senior High School, Melbourne (National Rank: 32)
6. Stanton College Preparatory School, Jacksonville (National Rank: 36)
7. Edgewood Junior/Senior High School, Merritt Island (National Rank: 50)
8. Young Women's Preparatory Academy, Miami (National Rank: 52)
9. Suncoast Community High School, Riviera Beach (National Rank: 53)
10. Alexander W. Dreyfoos Junior School of the Arts, West Palm Beach (National Rank: 78)

Click here to see the full list.

See Also: Top 100 Florida Public High Schools Of 2016

The top high schools in the country are as follows, according to U.S. News:

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.

U.S. News Methodology For Ranking Schools

The 2017 rankings of best high schools identify the top-performing public schools at both the national and the state level and include date on more than 20,000 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. Schools that received bronze medals passed the first three steps but were not ranked numerically in the national rankings. 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.

Image via Shutterstock.