Newsweek: Hinsdale South Ranks No. 415 Best High School in America

Hinsdale South High School is among the top 500 high schools in America for 2015, according to an annual ranking by Newsweek.

The school was ranked 415th in the country.

That’s an improvement from last year, when neither Hinsdale South nor Hinsdale Central High School made the 2014 list. In 2013, Hinsdale Central ranked No. 144, and Hinsdale South came in at No. 389.

Only one Illinois school, Walter Payton in Chicago, made the top 10 this year.

The rankings were compiled using graduation rate, college enrollment rate, SAT and ACT scores, AP and IB scores and participation, teacher-student ratio and dropout rates.

“Some factors are more important, especially since our rankings focus on college readiness,” Jim Impoco, editor in chief of Newsweek, told Patch via email. “We place emphasis on criteria like college enrollment and graduation rate since we know that those are some of the biggest indicators of whether students are prepared for college.”

This year’s rankings were weighted by:

• Enrollment Rate- 25 percent
• Graduation Rate- 20 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/Dual Enrollment composite- 17.5 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT composite- 17.5 percent
• Change in student enrollment between 9th-12th grades, to control for dropout rates- 10 percent
• Counselor-to-Student Ratio- 10 percent

Click here to see the full Newsweek rankings.