2 Local Schools Make Newsweek’s Top High Schools List

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL - Crystal Lake Central High School and Cary-Grove High School are ranked among the top high schools in America, according to the 2016 rankings by Newsweek released on Thursday morning.

Crystal Lake Central received a ranking of No. 138 on the list while Cary-Grove came in at No. 242 on the list.
Both schools saw a significant jump in their national rankings this year on Newsweek’s list. Cary-Grove was ranked No. 323 in the country in 2015 and did not make the list in 2014. In 2013, Cary-Grove was ranked at No. 733. Crystal Lake Central did not make Newsweek’s list in the past three years.

Meanwhile, Prairie Ridge High School, which was ranked No. 251 on Newsweek’s list in 2015, did not make this year’s list.

Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago landed in the top spot for Illinois schools, with a No. 8 rank nationally.

• Find out how other Illinois schools ranked on Newsweek's list

The top school in America for 2016, according to Newsweek, is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.

Newsweek used six factors to create its top schools list, weighing each measurement to create a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how prepared students are for college by the time they leave high school.

Those measurements and their weight include:

• Holding power: 10 percent
• Ratio of counselor/full-time equivalent to student enrollment: 10 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT: 17.5 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite: 17.5 percent
• Graduation rate: 20 percent
• College enrollment rate: 25 percent

In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.